But there are no shortcuts ...

We live on a fallen planet. The setting is difficult. The ability to identify and choose between good and evil, light and darkness, is both a learning opportunity and a problem generator. Free agency has resulted in an environment wherein we are faced with many difficulties, most of which we have caused ourselves. The heaviness of a third dimensional atmosphere where there are lags between intention and results often complicates our difficulties. We reap what we sow and identifying and correcting issues that we ourselves have created is more often than not a laborious and difficult effort. We cannot snap our fingers and have our problems disappear. There are no shortcuts. Most of the time we simply have to slog through the swamp.

Much of our planets population and Americans in particular are addicted to quick fixes. We’re constantly looking for ways to avoid the natural consequences of our actions and the results of our poor decisions. We want the easy way out … the smooth and level road … the bed of roses.

A lot of folks seek this kind of quick relief in religion. In recent decades, there have been many Christian “television evangelists” who have encouraged people to give money to their causes while assuring the givers that God would reward them with riches if they did so. Others have promised miraculous healings. Many of these “spiritual leaders” who have promised these types of quick fixes have been exposed as shams. Some have gone to prison for defrauding contributors and misappropriating funds.

Some “healers” and “intuitives” have been found to be wearing small receivers in their ears and getting information from staff members about the people whom “God has told them to pick” out of the audience. Others have salted the audience with people who will cooperate with them in their “healing.” I believe that genuine healings do occur. I have witnessed some and I have participated in some. But to believe that they will unerringly occur if you will only follow a certain procedure or come to a certain “healer” is nonsense.

Some people use magic in an attempt to change their circumstances. And I believe that magic can help to some degree in some situations. But it isn’t like Cinderella where the fairy godmothers use a wave of their wands to change some mice and a pumpkin into a beautiful horse-drawn carriage.

In stressful times like ours, it’s human nature to hope for a quick fix. Financial stresses, familial pressures, relationship crises, workplace tension, international conflict, health issues all take their tolls. But, although Jesus often healed the sick and gave hope to the troubled, he also said that “in this life you will have tribulation.”

Over the course of my life, I have somewhat grudgingly come to believe that there are no quick fixes … no easy way out … no rainbow road to solving our problems. And I don’t believe that’s being pessimistic. I believe it’s being pragmatic. Christ’s disciples were killed for following him. Good people throughout the ages have suffered in countless ways. God did not intervene to stop WWI or WWII. He did not intercede to prevent the Holocaust or the Inquisition. Hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, floods and other natural disasters kill people every day. We cannot count on God to bail us out of these kinds of situations. That is not how this world works.

Do I believe in angelic intervention? Yes … under certain circumstances. I’ve been involved in angelic encounters. But it isn’t something I’d count on to prevent a war or repair a relationship or feed a multitude of starving people. Do I believe God helps us … even to the point of occasionally interceding in situations? Yes … under certain circumstances. But dramatic rescues seem to be the exception rather than the rule. If sought out, God will provide guidance and encouragement. But S/he will not do the work that we ourselves can do.

Because I’m human and am also prone to wanting quick fixes for certain situations I’m faced with, I don’t particularly like these rules. There are times I wish God would stretch the parameters a bit and intervene in a more direct and powerful way. There are issues that I can’t understand … can’t get my arms around … don’t know how to address … and I grow frustrated with God for not fixing them. I would do the work if I knew how. I just don’t know what to do.

But there’s such a thing as knocking your head against a tree. The tree isn’t going to give … but your head might. In the same way, you can’t “break” God’s laws … they don’t break or bend. They are fixed. And they are fixed for a reason. But you can break yourself against those laws. So it doesn’t do much good to thrash around in irritation. It only wears you out.

Yes, because I’m a “fixer” … a trait that’s genetically hardwired into most males … I can get very frustrated with things I can’t figure out or fix. And, believe me, I’m facing a lot of those situations right now. On the other hand, it doesn’t do much good for me to foment over the fact that there’s no easy way out on the horizon.

Sometimes, the best you can do is to take a deep breath, try to gather yourself and take another step forward in the swamp.