McLife: A Shortcut to Holiness

Who doesn't love a good shortcut? Even if the shortcut saves us just 5 steps, we will almost always choose the shortcut.

In the early to mid 19th century, a devout woman by the name of Phoebe Palmer, felt that the path to holiness, or to perfection, that some people took a lifetime to walk, was unreasonable. She wanted to feel the presence of God in her life with more immediacy.

She didn't want to walk ALL the way around that corner on the sidewalk. She wanted a more direct route...through the grass.

So, she began working on a shortcut to holiness. Sounds great, doesn't it?

Who doesn't want the "Six Simple Steps to Perfection"?

She lived a life of discipline and practice, yet the emotional experience of conversion and assurance of salvation eluded her for many years. She tried and tried to reach perfection in her own time rather than in God's time. She waited faithfully. She continued to resist the voice that attempted to alter her focus. She tried and tried of her own power to achieve perfection, but it remained "an attainment beyond her reach," as is written in her book, The Way of Holiness.

It wasn't until she realized that holiness wasn't something to be achieved, but was a gift from God, that her heart was changed. When she let go. When she stopped trying so hard, and instead, opened herself to fully receiving whatever God would do in her life, she was empowered by the Spirit to live a life giving back to God that which was already God's.

What are you seeking with all of our might?

Is God the absorbing desire of your heart as it was Pheobe's? What would that even look like?

Watch "The Marshmallow Test" and then listen to the message below as you ponder these questions: