Tag: determination

Shortcuts Crushed by Determination

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(Luke 13:31-35)

We are no strangers to the many advantages shortcuts can provide. Books and websites are filled with shortcuts and hacks that promise an easier way for just about anything. We have experienced the benefits of shortcuts in a lot of different ways. When we’re scrambling to be on time getting from Point A to Point B and a passenger in the vehicle shares knowledge of a shortcut, no one complains – that’s a good thing. Keyboard shortcuts when typing can save a lot of headaches and unnecessary keystrokes. Other shortcuts promise endless ways to help you get more done in less time, whether at work, cleaning the house, or in the kitchen. We know how valuable shortcuts can be. 

In the verses from Luke 13, we see a shortcut proposed to our Savior. It wasn’t a shortcut that merely offered to shave some time off his busy schedule so he could get more done. No, it promised substantially more than that. Would he take the shortcut? Could he take the shortcut? What would it mean for him? What would it mean for us?   

There were others seeking a shortcut in our verses from Luke today, too. We don’t know if what the Pharisees were passing along was the truth or not. Had Herod really threatened Jesus’ life, or had the Pharisees constructed a lie themselves in hopes that such a threat would be enough to scare him off when they told Jesus, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you” (v.31). While we can’t be certain of the origin of this information, what we do know is that the Pharisees did not make it a habit of having Jesus’ best interest in mind, so in sharing this information with Jesus, the desired outcome they were hoping for is clear: they wanted Jesus to skip town and get as far away from Jerusalem – their turf! – as possible. Consider how much time and trouble it would have saved the Pharisees if Jesus had simply left town! What an alluring shortcut that could have been for them to not have to plot and scheme in order to devise a solution for the problem of Jesus! This shortcut could have made it so much easier for them!

But… is easier always better? Is the tradeoff always worth it? Do shortcuts end up delivering on the promises they make? It probably shouldn’t bother me as much as it does, but when I’m hiking and see another hiker take a shortcut, either cutting through a switch-back or just straying from the trail, the cranky old curmudgeon inside my head shouts, “You’re only cheating yourself!” A coach or a trainer is going to be less than thrilled to hear about shortcuts being taken in practice or in the gym. Any runner or cyclist in any sort of long-distance race is going to be disqualified for taking a shortcut. And, if you’ve ever dabbled in any DIY projects, you know that shortcuts can end up being very expensive in the long run, either requiring more time, more work, or more money down the road (or all three!).

Unhealthy shortcuts can also actually leave us worse off than when we started. We’ll take just about any shortcut in our culture today that avoids pain or suffering. In terms of our health, for just about any negative symptom one could experience, there is a drug that promises relief. So rather than changing eating habits or exercising, we opt for the pharmaceutical shortcut. When work is a challenge or a relationship is hurting, we can resort to unhealthy shortcuts to feeling better, like drinking or binge-watching. Even suicide, as much as it shatters the lives of those it affects, is viewed increasingly by our culture as an acceptable shortcut to avoid some element of suffering.

If shortcuts are not always what they’re cracked up to be, then it’s probably good to evaluate some of those spiritual shortcuts that have also slipped into the church. Sometimes we have to confess the reason behind them is our own spiritual immaturity – we want to have the strong faith we see in someone else, but without all the time they’ve spent in Word and worship and prayer over the years. We want patience, but without having to endure the trials that someone else went through to grow it. 

Other times, spiritual shortcuts can start out with good intentions, but end up having less than desirable results. Being able to give offerings to the Lord online has been a huge blessing for churches throughout COVID, and a convenient way to set up a shortcut by setting up recurring offerings and not having to take the time to write out a check (ask your parents if you don’t know…). However, if the end result is that I never give my offerings a second thought, is the shortcut worth it? Recorded and streaming video online has allowed worship to be accessible when we were not able to meet in person. But, if that medium has completely replaced meeting in person when we’re perfectly healthy enough to do so, is that shortcut worth it to sacrifice the Supper and many other blessings of people in pews that will never be accessible via video? 

We have to be real and clear about why we’re taking the shortcut. If we don’t know why we’re doing it, then we run the risk of enslaving ourselves to shortcuts without considering if we’ve actually gained anything from them! What we often fail to do is consider the opportunity cost of our shortcuts. If you aren’t familiar with that phrase, it simply refers to the practice of being aware of how much something really costs.

For example, if you have been saving up for a trip for some time, but then some shiny new kitchen appliance comes on the market that you “must” have, if you take the money from what you’ve been saving for your trip, then that means you’ll either have to put off the trip longer or maybe not go. So the opportunity cost was not just the price tag of the kitchen appliance, but also realizing what you’re giving up or going without when you decide to make that purchase.

Shortcuts are the same way. When we seek to take a shortcut, we don’t always consider the tradeoff or sacrifice. Maybe a simple question to ask ourselves: with this shortcut what am I giving up and what do I gain, and is it worth it? What am I avoiding and what do I attain, and is it worth it? A shortcut that gets a person from point A to point B faster might be worth it to one person because of the time it saves, but to another, it might not if that shortcut requires driving through what feels like an unsafe part of town. One person may determine the opportunity cost of a shortcut is worth it, while another may not.

Let’s now return back to Jesus and to the course of action the Pharisees proposed. What exactly was the potential shortcut for Jesus, and how would he weigh the opportunity cost of the temptation to take it? What would he be giving up and what would he gain? What would he be avoiding and what would he attain? It seemed pretty clear that the shortcut the Pharisees were offering Jesus was to avoid something: death! The choice must have seemed a no-brainer in their minds as they pointed it out to Jesus – leave town and avoid dying! If you value your life, just keep your distance from Herod and you’ll be just fine. Give up going to Jerusalem and what you stand to gain is your life!

So… shortcut or no shortcut for Jesus? His answer was quite clear. “He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!” (v.32-33). Jesus wasn’t taking the bait. He wasn’t interested in the shortcut. In fact, he knew the shortcut wasn’t even an option, insisting that he “must” press on. This is a word Jesus uses elsewhere in the Gospels when explaining why he has to take a certain course of action. There is so much more wrapped up in it than how we use it. We take it to mean that we have to do something to avoid consequences. I “must” do this or I’ll get fired, I “must” do that or I’ll lose screen time, I “must” complete this or I’ll get a bad grade, I “must” file taxes on time or I’ll have to pay a penalty. Our “must” is to avoid a negative.

Not so with Jesus. His “must” is to ensure a positive: our salvation. The opportunity cost of the shortcut Jesus was offered was simply not worth it. Jesus “must” press on because souls are at stake. He must press on because eternity hangs in the balance. He must press on because Jesus’ perfect and holy heart cares more about completing his Father’s will than even his own personal well-being. He must press on because there was no other acceptable payment plan for covering the cost of sin – only the shedding of his priceless blood would serve as payment. He must press on to die, so that through his death we might live. 

Jesus could not take the shortcut, not when it served only to allow him to give up or avoid something; he was more interested in what his suffering and death would gain, what they would attain for mankind. So he was resolutely determined to do what he “must” do to make it happen. No shortcut would allow him to succeed in carrying out that goal. And he was determined to carry it out for everyone – even the very enemies trying to talk him out of it. 

In one last-ditch effort, Jesus threw out to them the life-line of repentance, warning them not to follow in the footsteps of their ancestors: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’” (v. 34-35). The invitation to repentance is an open-ended one for you and for me, too. Confess the spiritual shortcuts that we’re all too willing to take. Repent for all the times we have opted out of the burden of carrying our cross and following Jesus in favor of the cross-less shortcut. 

Then turn to the cross that Jesus not only carried but also died on… because he willingly chose to crush any shortcut that would sidestep your salvation. The opportunity cost of saving his own life and losing yours for eternity wasn’t worth it. So he died. And now we get to live. And he promises to give to you and to me the strength to bear the crosses that come up in our lives as Christians. We can face the difficult and the demanding without searching for the nearest exit or shortcut, for we have a Savior who with dogged determination not only secured our salvation by his own cross, but who also promises that he’ll always be right there with us to help us carry our crosses as well.

“Habits of His Grace: Determination”

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(Mark 8:31-38)

He wasn’t any more than eight years old when he was dragged unconsciously from a schoolhouse fire. The severe burns over the lower half of his body had the doctor convinced that he wasn’t going to live, or at least never regain the use of his legs if he did live. But he didn’t accept that his legs would never again support him. One time, after being rolled out into the yard in his wheelchair, he threw himself out of it and crawled across the lawn to the fence. He pulled himself up on the fence and began to drag himself along it. He repeated this exercise so frequently that he wore out a path. His resiliency paid off. 22 months after the tragic accident, he finally managed to stand up on his legs. After that, he walked. Then, he ran. And ran. And ran. And ran… until eventually he broke the world record in the mile. Glenn Cunningham, one of the greatest American mile runners, the badly-burned boy who wasn’t going to make it, who was never going to walk again, staked his claim in history because of his determination.

We love stories about determination. We love it when a person overcomes the odds and makes some monumental achievement. We cheer on others who aspire to persist in doggedly climbing mountain after mountain of failure until they reach the peak of success all the way at the top. Movies are made about such stories. Books are written about them. We eat it up. We can’t get enough of it. What is it about stories of determination that draw us in and capture us? Why does determination make for such an attractive trait? Maybe because it is so rare.

When is the last time you were determined to do something… and actually did it? We get inspired to take action. We have good intentions. We start strong. But the repeated ditched efforts in our lives reflect why determination is so rare. If you’re the resolution-setting type, how many of those have you managed to hit this year? How many “someday I’m gonna”s have you been stuck on, and for how many years now? How often have you traded in your determination to do this or that for settling for where you’re at? Why do we struggle with determination?

One thing that gets in the way of our determination? Distraction. We can let ourselves off the hook and blame those distractions on external factors, but that denies that we’re the ones who not only permit them, but actively seek them! We want to be distracted, because it’s far easier than being determined. I’ll say it again: we want to be distracted, because it’s far easier than being determined. Netflix needs me. Facebook flirts. The suddenly super important to-do list that has us whirling around the house like the Tasmanian Devil is – if we’re honest – a replacement for that other thing that we’re avoiding. The longer-than-normal phone call with the person I haven’t talked to in so long is really just another justified distraction. We welcome them all with open arms and we will continue to do so until we admit that it is no one’s fault but our own for allowing them to serve as distractions to determination.

Now it’s one thing if a person wants to stagnate through life denying that these distractions are his own fault, but there is a point when a lack of determination becomes an issue. When is that? When it impedes our relationship with Jesus. And remember that we’re not even talking about distractions that are themselves inherently sinful or wrong! Anything, anything – good or not – that reduces my resolve to maintain and make the most of my faith in Jesus has got to go. 

Satan used a perfectly understandable human concern of Peter’s in his attempt to use him as a distraction to Jesus’ determination. Jesus had explained to Peter the ugly reality of his impending rejection, his suffering, and his death. No one can blame Peter for not wanting to see Jesus experience that! None of us would have acted any differently in the same situation. But when Peter’s concern, normal as it was, threatened to hinder Jesus’ rejection, suffering, and death, it was no longer normal. It had at that point become an instrument of Satan to stifle the Savior’s necessary mission. “Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. ‘Get behind me, Satan!’ he said. ‘You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men’” (Mark 8:32-33). Peter didn’t realize it at the time, but if Jesus had heeded his rebuke and sidetracked his suffering and sacrificial death, Peter – and all the rest of mankind along with him! – would have ultimately had to suffer the far worse fate of eternal punishment for sin!

Jesus then seized that very moment to teach one of the most important lessons of all for his followers to learn: determination and discipleship are a package deal for Jesus’ followers. Are we determined not to lose what Jesus has already won for us? “Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?’” (v.34-37). 

Jesus said quite clearly we “must” deny ourselves. That’s a tall order in today’s self-serving culture! Why did you buy that thing? Because self wanted it. Why did you shatter the sixth commandment? Because self wanted it. Why did you cut someone else down with your words? Because self wanted to. Why have you remained so distant from Jesus, worship, and his Word? Because self has other interests that are more important. And it is to lives consumed with serving self that Jesus gives the warning of losing life – eternal life. 

The other part of what Jesus said is that we “must” take up our cross. But, in order for that to happen, have we ever realized that doing so may require that we first must let go of something else? How much can you carry? Are you carrying the right things? What good is it??? If it doesn’t serve your relationship with Jesus, do you need it? Is it really harmless upon further inspection, or is it leaving you carrying so much that you don’t have any extra hands to carry what matters, to pick up your cross and follow? And, are we carrying so much, piled up so high in our arms that we cannot even see Jesus to be able to follow him? Drop it. Let go of what doesn’t matter! It isn’t serving you if it isn’t serving your relationship with him. God help us if the qualification of being a disciple is measured by the perfect requirement of denying self and taking up our cross, for if so, we are doomed!

But always remember what Jesus taught first. “He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again” (v.31). Jesus “must” suffer and “must” be killed because we can’t meet the “musts” that are required of us. We don’t have in us the determination to follow through. No amount of our own determination can save us from damnation. So Jesus stepped in with his “must.” He must do these things because we cannot. And he must do them because he wasn’t OK with the alternative of eternity in hell for anyone. So he must carry them out so that no one “must” go to hell. Even if it made Peter squeamish to think about him suffering and dying. He must.

And he did. Gaze up on Good Friday and see it. There he is. There is your Savior. There is the price of your salvation. There – that – is what determination looks like. 

The “must” has been met. Where our must is a mess, Jesus’ must is the only one we can trust. Jesus’ determination, this habit of his grace, has been carried out perfectly in our place. So we now look to make determination a habit in our lives. 

Jesus also said, “If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels” (v.38).  Shame over Jesus and/or his words in this generation is not because his words by themselves are so offensive, but rather because this adulterous and sinful generation has made them out to be by making acceptable what is unacceptable. The world chooses filth over faith and so makes faith out to be filth. It calls good, bad and bad, good. So Scripture’s teachings which at one time served as society’s moral compass have become black-listed. And we sense it when we feel as if we must apologize to others for holding to and believing certain truths. But stay the course! Remain determined! Be willing to lose our lives for the sake of the gospel, lest we lose both our lives and the gospel for the next generation!

We love stories about determination. Will our own be a story of determination? Will we let our Savior’s determination for us drive and direct our own? Will we add this habit of his grace to our tool belt, along with faithfulness? Will we combine the two – faithfulness and determination – to become a resolute force unafraid to face Satan? Will we set self down to free up our hands to pick up our crosses in pursuit of Jesus? May God’s grace galvanize all of us to make our mark in history as a time when Christ’s church, God’s people, you and me, displayed unparalleled divine determination!