Short Cuts

I was reading in Matthew 4 today, the story of Jesus' temptation in the wilderness. The final temptation caught my eye. It was where Jesus was shown all the kingdoms of the world by Satan, and was offered them in exchange for worship. Jesus, of course, refused, and Satan left him.
This is a very interesting temptation. Why would Satan offer to make Jesus the ruler of the world. Of course, he was only willing to do it if Jesus was willing to worship him, which means that he would still be the de facto ruler. It still seems interesting, though.
I think Satan offered this to Jesus because it was already Jesus destiny to rule the world. Jesus knew it, but He knew that the path to His kingdom led through the Cross. Satan basically offered Jesus a shortcut. "You don't need to go through all that stuff to get the world, I'll give it to you right now - just change your allegiance from God to me.”
Of course, Satan's offer was a counterfeit. It really wouldn't have been the same as what God promised Jesus, but still, it must have been tempting, even if only on a very small scale.
Then I thought - Satan basically does the same thing to us. How many times do we take shortcuts around God's will? How often do we know what is right, but decide we don’t want to go through the process to get it. People steal because they want money, or they want the thing they stole. They do this because it is a shortcut to their goal. The long way around (but the right way) is to get a job, save up some money, and buy the thing. But this way isn't instant, and it isn't easy, but it is God's way.
I recently heard a statistic that was staggering, though I believe it. I heard that the percentage of people who live together/sleep together before marriage is in the vast majority (like 75% or higher). If a person holds to the virtue of waiting until marriage, they become the odd ball, they're weird, they're in the minority, and there is social pressure against them. It occurs to me that this is also simply a shortcut. Honestly, I think that the loss of this virtue in our culture is a major contributor to the loss of the sense of the sacredness of marriage. People live together, but don't get married - why? Well, if you’re already acting like a married couple - living together, sleeping together, having kids together, etc., what's the point of getting married? The idea is that you can have all the benefits of being married, without actually making a commitment to one another. It is enjoying end product without going through the process. It's a shortcut.
But let's face it, we all take shortcuts around God's will, usually in "little" things, but we still do it. I feel challenged, and I hope you do too, not to take shortcuts. To actually value the process, not just endure it (as I think God does). Let's allow God to take us the long way 'round so that when we actually arrive at the place when God is leading us, we'll actually appreciate it more, and we'll have the character to really know what to do with it.

Remember Joseph. He was destined to be the ruler of Egypt, but he had to be thrown in a well, sold into slavery, lied about, and thrown into prison before he got there. But he learned a lot along the way. Most importantly, he learned integrity. We need to embrace the process God leads us through, knowing that His purpose is not just the end-product, but what happens in between.
Rom. 5:3-5