In Matthew 4 Jesus said, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.” He was responding to Satan after being shown all the kingdoms of the world and their authority. Satan’s offer came with a catch – worship him. The average Christian, maybe even the average per son, has figured out you worship God and you do not worship Satan. It seems almost too obvious, too simple. Everyone knows that. Is that really a temptation or a test? Jesus passed it. My question is have you? 

“Yes” flies out of our mouths like a reflex. I know. Over and over. I know that – worship God. I began to slow down and listen to the Holy Spirit. You know Him. The still quiet voice inside your heart. He’s the one telling you that you may not know everything and He wants to help you. Revelation can only come when you’re open to Him and understand that there is more in each one of His words than you understand right now. He desires to reveal himself to you but you must seek Him.

As I opened myself to His leading and began asking for more. He showed me the test was a short cut. You see Jesus came to bring His kingdom to earth. He introduced the Kingdom of God and then entrusted us to complete His work. The devil offered him a shortcut to get the job done. I started to reflect and think about how many times I’m offered and/or take a shortcut. The Holy Spirit reminds me of Adam and Eve eating the fruit, Abram with Ishmael, Moses at the waters of Meribah, Saul at Gilgal.

In the garden of Eden sin entered the world because Adam and Eve saw with their eyes that it looked pleasing and believed God was withholding a blessing from them. That is always a lie. Satan still uses it constantly. The short cut was to eat and not listen to God. The Short cut brought death.

God promised Abram that his offspring would be like the stars of the sky and the sand of seashore. Abram saw his barren wife. Time went by. His wife offered a short cut by sleeping with her maidservant. The shortcut resulted in Ishmael the patriarch of Islam.

Dying in the desert from lack of water the Israelites cried out to Moses. God told him to speak to the rock and water would flow for them and their animals. Moses did not speak to the rock, instead he struck it with his staff like he had done before. God is not trying to teach us a formula for success, He is trying to teach us obedience is success (because he tells us only what is best for us). The shortcut resulted in Moses not being able to lead the Israelites into the promised land.

God told Saul to wait at Gilgal for Samuel to offer a sacrifice for the Lord’s favor. He thought Samuel wasn’t coming so he would do it. He did do what God said, just not in order according to His instructions. He took a short cut.  Samuel was to offer the sacrifice for Saul. The result of this shortcut was Saul’s kingdom did not endure. God then anointed David as king of Israel and it was his house that was on the throne forever. That is the family line Jesus came from.

A short cut is fundamentally wrong because you are putting yourself and your thinking above God. Remember we are supposed to serve Him only. A short cut tests if we believe what we say. Because your actions show what you believe. This isn’t just a question of sinning, or falling short of the mark. This is a question of who or what is on the throne of your heart. This is a question of who you are serving. Remember the call for your whole heart.

To be continued….