Shortcuts: Proceed with Caution
There’s no mistaking where we want our lives to be, the problem is getting there. The goal is to be successful, the problem is achieving success. If you’re a student the goal is clear, if you want to lose weight the goal is clear, if you’re married or want to get married the goal is clear, the problem is not the destination the problem is getting there. The problem is that the road that leads to success is too long, so we start looking for shortcuts. But in life, there are no shortcuts to anywhere worth going.
A shortcut in your education may fool enough people. You may even end up with a degree, but you are more likely than not to end up with an unsuccessful career. A shortcut to weight loss might help you to rapidly lose those unwanted pounds but it’s not going to lead you to live a healthy life. And a short cut in the important relationships in your life will not strengthen your relationships it will only deteriorate them.
A shortcut is to take the path of least resistance, often times it’s to do the right thing the wrong way. For anything that is worthwhile, there will always be an alternate route, an easier way; there will always be a shortcut. But the tragedy of the shortcut is that you always end up paying much more than the price it would have cost you for not taking a shortcut.
Yesterday I gave you two areas in which you should never take a shortcut. Today I’d like to give you two ways to avoid taking a shortcut.
- Avoid taking the easiest route possible.
“Easy come, easy go, but steady diligence pays off.” – Proverbs 13:11 MSG
Your priority should never be the easiest route possible to reach your goal, but rather the best way possible to get there. A big part of building the character necessary for sustained success happens on the road to success. If you shortcut your way to success even if you reach it, you’ll not be able to sustain it. It will slip right through your fingers.
- Avoid following the crowd.
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.” Matthew 7:13 NIV
It’s funny, we live in a world that tells us that we ought to be different, but everyone looks and acts the same. Avoid following the crowds, they usually don’t know where they’re going, they’re just following everyone else. Have the courage to take the road less traveled but not just any road; the narrower and less appealing road of hard work and dedication, it guarantees success.
Robert Cruz Jr.
Bobby Cruz Jr. became Senior Pastor of CDA Miami in 1999, continuing the work that his father, Bobby Cruz began in 1980. Bobby Jr. is an engaging speaker whose passion is to lead people in a growing relationship with Jesus. He has five children and he lives with his wife Ana in Doral, FL.