The Roundabout Way

I am reading "Love Beyond Reason" by John Ortberg and his one chapter is title 'The Roundabout Way". This very good book talks about moving God's love from our heads to our hearts.

In this chapter, the roundabout way is usually the long way to solve a problem in our lives. It is never the easiest or the shortest road traveled. Why? Because God is more concerned with our character than our comfort. Because during the roundabout way, we learn to be to obey when obedience is never easy. This is the stretch of road where our faith really grows.

Think about it......the Israelites 40 years in the desert to reach the Promised Land that should have taken a few weeks of travel. This roundabout journey is where the Israelites learned about God, their obedience was tested, their faith was measured. Look at Jesus...the roundabout way was to go through the trial, punishment, disgrace, and beating on the way to the cross. He didn't need to take this route. But He did. Would our salvation be as precious if Jesus just waived a wand and fixed everything? Look back at the times in your life when you were struggling to get ahead. Struggling with your faith because a promotion didn't happen, an illness crept in, financial stress ruined most days of your week. Looking back, you probably thought you would never get through this tough time. You even looked for shortcuts in an effort to fix everything yourself.

The roundabout way is a road all Christians should expect to travel. The roundabout way will involve hard times, temptation, and frustration. The old phrase "nothing good or worthwhile comes easy". I think this is true of our faith journey with Christ.

I'll be looking for you on "the roundabout".