The Gospel is inefficient
The Gospel is inefficient
The ends NEVER justify the means.
In 7th grade, we didn’t have a track to run on for P.E. So, to complete the mile run we were required to work on throughout the semester, the P.E. teacher charted a path on the sidewalk outside that would be equivalent to a mile when you ran the course a certain number of times.
There were two rules for this project: jog or run the whole time and stay on the sidewalk the entire way.
As you might have guessed, many middle schoolers weren’t fond of following these two instructions—including those who were in good shape!
You see, there was a particularly sharp turn on the other side of the tennis courts that was mostly out of view from our teacher. There, the sidewalk intersected with another sidewalk, and we were instructed to round the curve. The angle of the grass between the sidewalks was maybe about 30 degrees.
Many students, who figured themselves pretty clever, would cut through the grass at this point in the run. It was easiest to hop over the thinnest patch of grass closer to the curve, though the most daring would cut through the grass a few feet before the curve. It was also around here—the farthest point from Mr. Baker’s watchful eyes—that people would slow to a walk.
But every time I saw this happen, I wondered why my classmates chose this almost useless shortcut. I mean, what, were they shaving off 0.03 seconds by turning two inches earlier? Was this second-long respite enough to help them through the rest of the run? Was it really worth it?
Yet it occurred to me then, as it does now, that we humans always want to take the most efficient path—even when that path is through the grass, even when it’s against the rules, and even when it barely saves time!
I’ll admit, I fall prey to this inclination all the time. I’m an avid user of Google Maps for every destination. I want it to tell me the fastest, most efficient route. Because what if I can save one minute going a new way to the grocery store instead of the route I usually take? That’s the path I want.
Just a few days ago, on a trip across the state, I saw a toll road that saved me 15 minutes on my journey. I took it! I paid a little for the privilege of getting there faster. To take a more direct, efficient route.
Because we humans love efficiency.
Unfortunately, I’ve begun to realize that the Gospel does not share this priority.
In fact, efficiency can easily become an idol—one we must smash to bits.
Human beings, especially Americans who serve “Quick & Easy” as our twin gods, are prone to cut corners in the name of speed, efficiency, cost, or just plain laziness. We become so focused on the end result that we find ourselves willing to tolerate a lot of ugliness and ignore a lot of good to get there.
We compromise our values, snipping out all the inconvenient parts of the Sermon on the Mount, all for a few wins and policies that serve our self-interests—as if Jesus lived a life of strategy, of maximizing efficiency, of time-saving.
I firmly believe we miss so much when we cut through the grass. Sometimes the longer route is exactly what we need. Sometimes, taking things slowly helps us see, hear, and experience the world around us so we can positively impact it. Sometimes it’s in the inefficient where we truly get to see God at work.
I hate to be “that guy,” but maybe those cheesy movies were right: it really is more about the journey than the destination.
Slow is Better
Waiting is a theme throughout the Bible, and most of it is God taking the “inefficient” route just so we would know it’s not human achievement that brought things about. Jesus waited as Lazarus was sick until Lazarus died because resurrecting a dead man would be a miracle that could reach many more people—as the aftermath in John 12 testifies. The Israelites had to wait in bondage, wait in the desert, and wait in their new land until their enemies calmed down so they would truly understand that all their victories came from God. Countless women in Scripture also waited for a child, only for God to finally bless them with remarkable children we still talk about today.
One of those women, Sarah, tried to take a shortcut to have the child of promise by setting up her husband with a slave girl, as she didn’t believe she could get pregnant at her age. She stepped off the path. But her actions ended up causing a lot of suffering for the slave, Hagar, and her son, Ishmael. The outcome was far from the one God had promised. So much harm came from her attempt at efficiency and control over the situation. All because she wanted control and couldn’t slow down to take things “inefficiently.”
Sarah focused on bringing about God’s results through her means. But God does things by a different set of means than what makes us the most comfortable or what seems the most realistic.
When it comes to the things that really matter in life, shortcuts aren't going to cut it. God has a path for us. It might be longer. It might not be on our timetable. It might be a bit awkward. But it’s God’s preferred path for a reason.
The Truth Behind Shortcuts
When we worship Efficiency as a sacred idol, life becomes a series of maximizing time, resources, and energy, aimed solely at achieving our end results. This narrow approach can hurt others, just as Sarah’s actions affected Hagar and Ishmael’s lives.
, in one of the most astute books about our present age, You Are Not Your Own, writes:“Efficiency tends to push out other considerations, or at least subjugate them. For example, it’s a wonderful thing to develop a more efficient way to farm so that you can provide more food for your neighbors, but when your concern for efficiency leads you to ignore the way a farming technique harms your neighbors or the environment, you are under the spell of technique.”
A narrow focus on efficiency means collateral damage is likely to occur.
We need to look no further than politics. We’re constantly told during election cycles that a certain set of policies and agenda points are “Christian” or “what’s best for the nation.” And because they represent such noble pursuits, the means of achieving them…don’t matter. It’s about efficiency. It’s far more “efficient” to outlaw the thing that goes against God’s commands than to change people’s hearts on the matter. It’s far more “efficient” to ignore a party or candidate’s flaws if it means getting the right policy passed. It’s far more “efficient” to vote for one particular party but ignore if they really represent what they say they represent.
Good ends by any means? Is that the way of the Sermon on the Mount, which teaches us virtues to live by? Are the fruits of the Spirit “election-winning” or “policy-making”? Isn’t there something in Scripture about not selling our souls to gain the whole world?
Yes, God may choose to use wicked things to bring about good—God does that a lot in Scripture! But that’s not our task. Far from it. The way we accomplish good things matters. The means do not, ever, justify the ends. The end can only be considered good if it’s achieved through good means—often, the slower, more inefficient means when compared to our hair-brained schemes.
Reflecting on our tense political climate in his recent Substack post, theologian
, notes poignantly that perhaps the way we talk about politics reveals something deep about our desires. He says:“The long-game for the church is to choose, in this election (and every election), to become people of Christlike character above all else. Often, when we say policies are more important than character, it becomes a covert way to justify our own immorality to achieve desired ends. The church must declare, no matter what: we would rather be like Christ in all things than win any human election.”
That expressed what I’ve been feeling all along. Too many brothers and sisters in Christ tell me to ignore the red flags in a candidate to accomplish X, Y, and Z. What they reveal is that their idol is Power and Control. Of course, they don’t want you to look at their candidate’s life… because then you’d have to look at theirs! Telling someone is a true prophet of God by their fruits is inconvenient. We’d rather call someone a prophet based on whether they speak to our itching ears and assure us that Power is good.
The Inefficient Gospel
There are two Gospels at play here: one is found in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and the other appeals to the sensibilities of men in suits around a boardroom table. Choose this day whom you will serve.
The false gospel is the Efficient Gospel. It’s fast, cheap, easy, immediately gratifying, energy-efficient, and utilitarian. It looks good on paper. It helps you achieve certain big goals. You aren’t required to approach things with wisdom; you’re given a free pass to ignore all matters besides the one thing you want to accomplish—no matter the costs. Most significantly, this Gospel makes you the hero of the story.
But then there’s the Inefficient Gospel. Hear me clearly—it’s not the ineffective Gospel; no, this Gospel is quite effective. But it’s inefficient in that it rejects what the efficient stands for. The Inefficient Gospel is slow, costly, hard, not always gratifying—certainly not immediately so—and energy-consuming. Yet it is virtuous and rewarding in the long run. It recognizes life’s messiness but offers only one hero who can save the day: God.
The Inefficient Gospel takes some getting used to. It means, believe it or not, that we’ll have to practice wisdom, recognize nuance, and, above all, wait for God to show up in the story instead of manufacturing things ourselves. But this is the very Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Shaving off a few seconds from your lap time might seem enticing enough to make the turn a little earlier than the sidewalk demands, but taking the longer, correct path is exactly what both you and the world need.
When we try to manipulate things, taking sketchy shortcuts doesn’t always serve us as we intended. We end up glorifying an Idol of Efficiency and ignoring the worship of the One True God, to our peril.
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No shortcuts,
Jake Doberenz
Thanks for reading Smashing Idols. Please share this publication with others!
I’ve never thought of efficiency as an idol. That’s an insightful point.
Keep up the great work, Jake! Love your writing.