Shortcuts and Second Miles

Matthew 7:13 msg "Don't look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don't fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. Matthew 5:41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.

Last week we talked about detours and learning to embrace the untimely distractions that they may be. I had mentioned the intersection near my house is being rerouted. Many impatient drivers have done their best to try to find shortcuts through driveways and sideroads. Many people have seen my lane as a viable option, but to their dismay it results in a dead end. Now they are subjected to turning around and getting back on route, with even more cars in front of them.

More often than we realize, shortcuts seem to result in cheating oneself. Other than keyboard shortcuts or perhaps a computer program or excel formula, shortcuts do not provide much of a benefit. We read cliff notes to skip the novel. We use the microwave instead of the oven. We have the “just add” water to a meal. In reality, we are harming ourselves. These shortcuts are not only unhealthy, but they are losing the beauty in the making. Cliff notes don’t paint the picture that the details in a novel do. Cancer causing agents can be found in microwaves and prepackaged meals.

As a Christian, we often take shortcuts by thinking good works or good deeds will get us into heaven. So we busy ourselves and ignore making the time to develop a relationship with Christ. Personal relationships take work, time, and effort. There are no shortcuts to learning about someone. I think about how often we make judgements on people based off of their social media accounts. That’s their “best self” they are putting out there. I understand that we should not air our dirty laundry out, and I believe social media should be used for positivity. But what I do want to remind people is that is not the full picture of someone’s life. And we certainly shouldn’t compare ourselves to their lives based on their Facebook photos either. There is so much more to a person. Take the time to ask the questions. Christ was the perfect person, but that doesn’t mean that His life wasn’t filled with hurt and heartache. There was plenty of that! But it was through those heartaches that we learned about our Heavenly Father who loves us so much. It’s where we saw His compassion and learned about His heart for us. The Holy Spirit longs to know you as well. Let Him in!

We live in a world that values the destination, but life truly is about the journey. A journey is where you pick up the lessons and find the beauty in perseverance. People who really get ahead in life….take the extra mile. That is counterintuitive to our logic. An extra mile? Not the shortcut? Yes it may take more time, but if you are in it for the right reasons, you will reap major benefits. Proverbs 14:12 “There is a way which seems right to a man and appears straight before him, but at the end of it is the way of death.”

In my habitudes book by Tim Elmore, he has a great lesson about the shortcut or second mile. Elmore shares that the term, “second mile” actually comes from the ancient Roman Empire. Roman military could ask people to carry their equipment for them, for up to a mile. It was a law most citizens resented. For some, however, it was an opportunity to win over the soldiers. When the mile was finished, the soldiers expected to retrieve their equipment and continue on their own, or impose it on someone else. Those citizens who understood the “second mile” principle, however, would refuse to set it down—they’d offer to carry it a second mile. I can imagine the conversations that occurred during that extra mile. I’m sure the soldiers asked them why they were doing more than expected. Perhaps they’d ask about their lives or families. It must have felt different—the citizens weren’t serving out of obligation, but because they wanted to.

First Mile : Second Mile You walk it because you have to. : You walk it because you want to. Doing the minimum. : Doing the maximum. It’s about duty. : It’s about devotion. Satisfies necessities. : Serves needs. Focus is on me. : Focus is on others. Elmore continues: Why it’s hard for us today (to go the extra mile). Sometimes when we give our time, money and energy, we save ourselves from our self-absorbed ways. Consider for a moment the SCENE that students are growing up in today: Our culture values…. So we tend to think… S – Speed Slow is bad. C – Convenience Hard is bad. E – Entertainment Boring is bad. N – Nurture Risk is bad. E – Entitlement Labor is bad. The problem is—by avoiding the items in the right column above, we avoid the very elements that enable us to mature and get beyond our own selfish lifestyle. Both students and adults can be downright narcissistic. This makes for an unhappy life. Someone once said, “The smallest packages in the world are people who are wrapped up in themselves.”

The value in understanding the second mile is that it’s more about others than self. In the process you actually better yourself, but the focus is on others. There is a great story about a group of rock climbers in Asia:

It became stormy and was so bitterly cold that one of the young men fainted in the snow. Several from the group said that they felt bad but they couldn’t do anything to save their friend. If they didn’t continue, they would all freeze to death. One climber, however, couldn’t do that. He told the others to go ahead; he would not leave his friend lying in the snow to die. The others proceeded quickly into the storm while this lone man picked up his unconscious friend and carried him over the mountain. Several hours later, the man carrying his friend came upon the others lying in the snow. They had all frozen from the icy temperatures. He, however, was still warm from carrying his friend on his shoulders. Giving his life to save someone else…had actually saved his own life.

Going the extra mile helps us to grow and give to others. When we give, we are sure to always receive. Sure there is a time and place for shortcuts. Time is important and being on time is very important. But it also goes back to the lesson of Kronos or Kairos. Is time a checkpoint for you or an opportunity? Finding value in what you do will encourage you take the extra mile. It may make you consider setting your GPS on scenic route instead of fastest route. Christ certainly went the extra mile for us. He took it upon himself to endure every pain, heartache, and temptation that is out there. He took on the form of man. He took on death—in fact the death of a thousand deaths. He consistently left the 99 for the one. He went the extra mile to Gethsemane… Samaria….Capernaum…. and so much more. He did it for you. He did it for me. He did it for our sins…for the sins we have committed….and for the sins we will commit. He was the most remarkable servant leader of all time. Christ went seventy times seven extra miles….and more!! We should always be willing to go the extra mile because of what Christ has done for us. Serve whole heartedly. Don’t just go through the motions. Don’t just do. We are not human DOINGS…we are human BEINGS. Be present. Take the time. Go the second mile.