Are you a shortcut kind of person? I like the quick keyboard shortcuts to copy and paste instead of right clicking, selecting from menu, each step of the way. I like the quicker kind of meal preps like one skillet casseroles. I also like it when God gives me a word to brighten my day or bring much needed wisdom so I don't have to hunt for it very hard on my own!
Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires total attention. (Matthew 7:13-14)
Shortcuts to God aren't going to get us what we hoped to gain. We might find we can read a short 'prepared' devotional passage in a really neat devotional book, and it will even speak to our spirit on some level, but it shouldn't be our 'steady diet plan' for how we hear from God. The truth is that God wants us to put in the effort of connecting with him - digging deep into his word and allowing it to 'dig deep' into our lives.
The way to life is vigorous and requires total attention. Vigorous refers to a life with God that is 'active' or 'robust'. I like to think of it as 'potent' or 'spirited'. It doesn't lack pizazz. It is always going to have a 'savor' that lets you know you are connected to his source of strength and power. It requires more than a casual relationship to get the kind of strength and power that one might consider as giving life total 'pizazz', though.
Pizazz is really just another word for 'active animation' - meaning we aren't just wall-flowers in this relationship. We are actively participating with him in our growth and development. How does a young girl learn to dance? Not by being a wall-flower! She has to accept the hand of the one who invites her onto the dance floor and as awkward as she may appear at first, the music begins to influence her movements as his hand gently guides her across the floor.
Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires total attention. (Matthew 7:13-14)
Shortcuts to God aren't going to get us what we hoped to gain. We might find we can read a short 'prepared' devotional passage in a really neat devotional book, and it will even speak to our spirit on some level, but it shouldn't be our 'steady diet plan' for how we hear from God. The truth is that God wants us to put in the effort of connecting with him - digging deep into his word and allowing it to 'dig deep' into our lives.
The way to life is vigorous and requires total attention. Vigorous refers to a life with God that is 'active' or 'robust'. I like to think of it as 'potent' or 'spirited'. It doesn't lack pizazz. It is always going to have a 'savor' that lets you know you are connected to his source of strength and power. It requires more than a casual relationship to get the kind of strength and power that one might consider as giving life total 'pizazz', though.
Pizazz is really just another word for 'active animation' - meaning we aren't just wall-flowers in this relationship. We are actively participating with him in our growth and development. How does a young girl learn to dance? Not by being a wall-flower! She has to accept the hand of the one who invites her onto the dance floor and as awkward as she may appear at first, the music begins to influence her movements as his hand gently guides her across the floor.
We don't learn to 'dance' with Christ the first time we leave the comfort of the 'wall'. It is a series of invitations accepted, movements directed, and music embraced that begins to help us to learn the 'dance steps' Christ wants to teach us. We get nowhere if we remain on the wall. As uncomfortable as it may be for us to leave that position on the wall, it is absolutely necessary for us to do so. We won't grow as we are designed to grow in Christ if all we do is settle for 'easily prepared food' all of the time.
There will just be times when we need to forage for the food ourselves, allowing God to show us where to find it, and then having his help in knowing how to consume it. As we go through these steps on our own, we find there is a greater delight in what we are receiving. Why? Perhaps it is because we come to see just how much more God has for us as we do! It may just be that God is developing a little 'pizazz' in us as we partake of what he has prepared for us to find! Just sayin!
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