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Re:Verse passage – Matthew 7:13-14 (day four)

We’ve all heard it said that “nothing worth having is easy.” Yet, we’re constantly drawn to things that offer an easier, seemingly effortless way to reach our goals. We fall for commercials that say their product can make us lose weight without any effort on our part. We search for the magic pill that will heal all our ailments. We’re duped by schemes that promise us we will “get rich fast!”

But there are no shortcuts to the things in life that really matter. And our spiritual life follows the same pattern. There are no shortcuts to sanctification. There are no loopholes to having an intimate relationship with God. There’s no magic pill or “become godly fast!” scheme that gets us closer to Jesus.

That’s not how God designed us. Rather, it’s in the hour-to-hour, day-by-day, walking with Christ that we find we slowly but surely go from glory to glory. This can be maddening at times, as it often feels like we’re going one step forward and two steps back. But we can have faith that the God who created us for the day-by-day way to glory also has the patience to walk that road with us, as slow and winding as it seems, through the narrow gate and into eternity.