My son was telling me about an influencer that he came across who had found an "infinite food hack.” For the uninitiated, a “hack” is a shortcut or work around to get to an end goal without all the usual effort. So, in this case, an infinite food hack would mean getting food without all the effort. Needless to say, I was intrigued. All the food and none of the work?! This would change society. This would change the whole world. This would change the very course of humanity.

 

I found the influencer online and watched as a young man, maybe 18 or 19 years old, indeed, proclaimed his infinite food hack. He took the bottom part of a green onion, you know, the white part with the roots, and put it into water. Time-lapse - more green onion grew from the submerged white root. 

 

Farming. This guy discovered farming. His infinite food hack is that things grow. His hack was a process that humans have been perfecting for over 12 thousand years. Ha!

 

We like “hacks.” We like the idea that there is a shortcut to getting what we want. That the end result can be ours, and we don’t have to put in all the effort that previously required of us, is attractive. It’s why there are fad diets. I’m reminded of the vibrating belt machines that shock one's mid-section are supposed to break up fat, or some such ridiculousness. The thing is, we do come up with “hacks” all the time. Think of all the things that electricity gives us: washing machines, dishwashers, vacuum sweepers or the Roomba. Humans are really good at finding ways around difficult tasks. 

 

With Jesus, there is no hack. He died for us; that is not a workaround, it was a painful and torturous death. His death makes us right with God - this is called justification. But there is another part of our faith: Sanctification. Sanctification “is an ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the believer, making them more like Christ." - Martin Luther. The way of becoming more like Christ is to do the work of the Holy Spirit. We must do the work. There is no way to buy our way out or “hack” the system, because it is in the work itself that we are transformed, that is sanctified.

 

So if you find that you have to get up 20 minutes early just so that you can have time to read the bible and pray (devotions) that suffering, or sacrifice is itself part of the means of achieving the divine purpose in your life, and through you, the world. Going the extra mile, increasing offering 1%, carving time to be at worship, a bible study, a small group, Wednesdays Ablaze, any of these transform you into the person God is bringing you to be. There is no hack to becoming the person God wants you to be, there is only simple honest effort.