An article in the New York Times focused on the hundreds of people who try to take a short-cut in marathons across the country.
I could spend this time talking about the ethical dimension of cheating, but I think the implications are quite obvious—these hundreds lack the ethical backbone to simply bow out of a race that they were too weak to finish.
I want to focus on the many different races that we run every day. In many ways we too disqualify ourselves because we want to find a shortcut. Sometimes, I’ll admit “working smarter and not harder” is an effective means of getting things done. But, there are many things in life that require us to take the exact path through hardship given to us. Some of these include parenting, personal development, and spiritual fitness.
There are no short cuts to raising Godly children. This is an everyday focus—short-cuts only make the problems worse. In personal development, there are many things that you simply have to learn by doing and failing and overcoming. In spiritual fitness, there are also no short cuts in learning do have a daily devotional time, to a daily prayer life, or to leading other toward Christ.
The next time you see a short-cut, and there are many being marketed, don’t take it. Focus on you task, learn from the hardships, and succeed where it is most important—in relationships, in your Christian walk, and in your personal character.