Travel Right

“It takes eleven days to journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadesh Barnea.” Deuteronomy 1:2

Have you ever had to take counsel from someone who said, ‘don’t worry, I know a shortcut that will save us a lot of time’, but eventually costing you more time and money than if you had stayed on the road you know?

Shortcuts come in all sizes and descriptions. They are an attempt to get you somewhere the easy way or to avoid something which you ought to face. Life is a lot like a journey that involves a starting point and an ultimate destination, one that can be Theone way.

Think of the 40-year sojourn of God’s children in the wilderness. Actually, the journey to Arad in the southern part of the Negev could have been made in less than 14 days according to Deuteronomy 1:2, but God has something else in mind, something they would learn only by facing the wilderness.

Romans 12:17 says “Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody.” This means to avoid the shortcut – the path to what you want or where you want to go which entails questionable means.

Would you be comfortable in flying on an aeroplane that is 97% safe, realizing that you are playing the odds which, of course, are in your favour but could capriciously let you down?

Would you be fine with it, if the inspector simply signed off on the safety record without actually making repairs that were vital to the safety of an aircraft?

William Shakespeare wrote, “To thine own self be true, and it shall follow as does day the night, thou canst not then be false to any man.”

Living with your conscience, regardless of whether or not your “shortcut” becomes public knowledge, means doing the right thing, no matter who is watching.

Living without shortcuts means that you will someday stand in the presence of God with no regrets, no secrets, and best of all, no shame. It may be the longer path to where you want to go, but it is the surer one.

‘Jesus answered, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me”‘ John 14:6