Short-Cuts Deep

Short-Cuts Deep

Why shortcuts in business — and life — usually cost more than they promise

We all love a good one-liner.

Single sentences that somehow hold more wisdom than entire paragraphs. They’re easy to remember, deceptively simple, and often reveal their depth only after life has had a chance to test them.

Jesus was especially good at these.

One of his most familiar lines is also one of his most unsettling:
“You cannot serve both God and money.”

It’s the kind of sentence we think we understand immediately — until experience presses on it from different angles.

This week, that pressure showed up in an unexpected place.

I was thinking about my business (past decisions, moments of momentum, and moments of regret) and a pattern emerged.

Every time I tried to take a shortcut, it failed.

Not always quickly.
Not always dramatically.
But consistently.

And when I traced those shortcuts back to their source, they shared the same motivation: They were driven by money.

Not earning money.
Not needing money.
But chasing it.

The Problem with Shortcuts

Shortcuts in business usually arrive disguised as efficiency.

This will get us there faster.
Everyone does it this way.
We’ll clean it up later.

Rarely do they announce themselves as greed.

More often, they show up as pressure.

Deadlines.
Cash flow.
Competition.

And slowly — almost imperceptibly — the pursuit of money begins to outrun the mission that was supposed to guide it.

The danger isn’t that money is pursued — but that it’s pursued without anything strong enough to say no to it.

That’s the shift He’s warning about.

Not earning money.
Not needing money.
But chasing it at the expense of principle, vision, or calling.

When that happens, money stops being a tool and starts becoming a guide.

And guides always shape the path.

Compromises follow — never all at once, never honestly.
They arrive dressed as “temporary,” “strategic,” or “necessary.”

Just this once.
Only a small adjustment.
We’ll fix it when things stabilize.

But money never settles for one concession.
It always asks for another.

When the Centre Holds

The decisions that did work — the ones that produced stability, growth, and peace — shared a different orientation.

They weren’t driven by money first.

They were driven by mission, principle, or a clear vision of what the work was actually for.

And here’s the strange thing:

When that was the centre, money tended to follow.

Not magically. Not effortlessly. But healthily.

Revenue arrived without panic.
Growth didn’t feel frantic.
Success didn’t require hiding parts of ourselves or the business.

Money became a companion, not a commander.

What Jesus Was Warning Us About

Jesus didn’t say money is evil.
He said you can’t serve it.

Because service shapes us.

Whatever we serve gets the final say — in our decisions, our compromises, and our justifications.

And this isn’t just about business.

The same dynamic shows up anywhere we’re tempted by a quick fix.

In relationships, when we trade honesty for harmony.
In leadership, when we trade courage for approval.
In personal growth, when we trade formation for hacks.

Shortcuts promise relief.
But they almost always cost us the very thing they claim to save.

The Slower Way That Lasts

Serving a meaningful goal means orienting yourself around something higher than immediate payoff.

Truth instead of convenience.
Integrity instead of optics.
Faithfulness instead of speed.

It is almost always slower at first.

But it doesn’t fracture you.

And over time, it produces what shortcuts never can:

Peace.

I’m Jamie. I write about leadership, faith, and the quiet work of building things that last. You can follow me here on Medium or connect with me on LinkedIn.