THANK YOU – FOR HARD LESSONS!
Thank you for your love and concern expressed to me by your prayers, cards, emails, and letters during the time I was in the Crystal Cove Care Center in Newport Beach, California, and now while I am at home. I am still recovering from a broken femur which was suffered in a fall I experienced while my husband, John and I, were on vacation in southern California. Although I was able to travel back to Oregon, I will not be leaving home any time soon as the healing is slow and the recovery process is ongoing.
God has been teaching me lessons He has taught me before and many new things as well. Of course, the lesson of patience is an ongoing one that I am re-learning every day - patience with myself; patience with my family; and patience with the medical personnel who tell me I cannot put weight on my foot yet since it could result in complications with the healing process.
God is also teaching me to forgive myself for deciding to step across the corner of a flower bed that was bordered by a cement curb. (Essentially I was taking an unnecessary shortcut). Missing the other side of the curb is what caused my fall. “You should have known better” is what my mind tells me many times. But then God says, “Forgive yourself and learn from this.”
I firmly believe that one thing God has taught me is that shortcuts aren’t always such a good idea! Whether it’s a route you are taking, a recipe you are following, a method of doing something at work, or even in your devotional life, shortcuts aren’t always wise! For example, I mentioned missing the curb when I was cutting across the flower bed. Perhaps you were out of ingredients for a certain recipe and took a shortcut by making substitutions, or even changed the oven temperature and baking time to get something done more quickly, and things did not turn out as they were supposed to.
Worse problems have arisen from taking shortcuts as well. I’m sure you’ve heard stories about people who took a shortcut while traveling and suffered unintended consequences. Maybe they got lost, or became stuck in deep snow, or even died - because of their exposure to the elements while trying to get out. At work, you may have missed some important information by not following the prescribed method for doing a task you were assigned. That may have caused problems for you and for your employer as well.
But taking shortcuts in your devotional life may be even more detrimental. If you are like me, you often find devotional articles more “fun” to read than the Bible itself. Certainly you may learn something valuable from a well-written devotional. But the problem is that such an article has been written by a human being. It may be “right on” Biblically, and there may be nothing “wrong with it” doctrinally, but it is not the Bible, the inspired Word of God. It is only a “commentary” on the Scriptures.
I don’t mean to sound “legalistic” about this, but the roots of faith are nurtured by the Word of God. Surely we can be “inspired” by a devotional writer’s words. However, the Word of God is what nourishes our spiritual life. God intended the His Word to be our “food” for spiritual growth. While I would never say that devotional articles (or inspirational books) are not good ‘food for thought’ or good for us, they are not the actual word of God.
“Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” Hebrews 5:13-14
The passage above refers to newborn infants and the milk they drink. They need to have milk because they cannot digest solid food. However, if they remain on a diet of just milk children will never become mature adults. They will remain unable to digest solid food and eventually be extremely weak and may even die. As children grow, various foods are added to their diet. And when their teeth develop, they are able to have even more foods that must be chewed in order to be digested.
As a Christian, I cannot mature without the study of God’s Word. I must spend time “chewing” on it to digest that Word and grow spiritually. This involves reading the Word of God and meditating on it. Then perhaps, I may use a study guide, or even a devotional reading to enhance my understanding. But I must never allow myself to only read the “fun or easy stuff”.
I pray that you will learn from my difficult experience with short cuts. My broken leg reminds me every day that short cuts are often not a good idea! Shortcuts in your devotional life can limit your growth to spiritual maturity. So dig into the Word – grow in Jesus, learn to love Him, and learn to follow Him more closely every day!
