Pain versus Pleasure

World renown motivational speaker Anthony "Tony" Robbins often talks about a Pain versus Pleasure principle that seems to be ingrained in each and everyone of us. Basically, it goes like this...

If we ask ourselves the question "Why do we do the things we do?", it seems complicated, but actually, it has a very simple answer. The answer is to either avoid pain or gain pleasure. Think about this for a minute.

For example - If the only way that I can go to the gym and workout would be to get up at 4am versus 6am, then the question I will ask myself is "Is it worth it?" But, what I'm really determining is whether or not the pain of getting up two hours earlier is worth the pleasure of working out. Not only that, but do I want to do this on a consistent basis?

If the pain is greater than the pleasure, then I will stay in bed. If the pleasure of working out is greater, then I will force myself to get up. It's really that simple.

The same can hold true in terms of eating. For example, will I get more pleasure from eating a candy bar or a carrot...or would I rather just eat nothing at all?

The Bible talks about how Pain and Pleasure keep us from entering through the narrow gate. Many times this comes into play when people start going outside of the status quo and talking more openly about Jesus. There are many Christians "in this boat" (I should know, I use to be one of them) that don't like talking about Christ and either get embarrassed, angry, or turned off.

²⁰The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. ²¹But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.
Mathew 13:20-21

To elaborate, this verse from Matthew is basically pointing out that many hear the Word, but then tribulation, persecution, isolation, etc. occur on account of the Word and they fall away. This is where the pain versus pleasure principle kicks in. Because we are either thinking short term and trying to please men. Or we are thinking long term - standing firm and carrying forward with God's Word.

²⁸Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Matthew 10:28

Sometimes we may think that people are driven away from God by pain. I'd argue that more people are lured away by pleasures. Earthly pleasures are very unlikely to push people closer to God. When things are going well, we tend to forget who is pulling the strings and even when things are not going so well, we often lose faith and may not try as hard as we should to rectify our situation through prayer.

There are always going to be perils in life. The temptation to receive praise or acceptance from others will remain a constant challenge. Especially if it means that you have to take sides. It's only through faith and prayer that courage is granted and perseverance will win.

³³But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.
Matt10:33

In my humble opinion, a little bit of pain now is worth an eternity's worth of pleasure. What do you think?

God bless you. And this is for His Glory

The Tenth Percentile

Parents know that kids will say anything in order to get what they want. One example of an age old promise is when a child asks to get a dog for a pet. The child makes promises to walk the dog, clean up after it, feed it, let it sleep in their bed, etc. But we all know that when it comes down to it that the parents end up taking care of the dog. But that's okay...they're just kids.

Even as adults we think that we need certain things and even promise ourselves that if were to get it, that we would be grateful. Another example of this is when someone decides to buy a treadmill. Treadmills are bought with the best of intentions, but they usually end up turning into a coat rack within a few weeks. This is typical human behavior that we all experience. We yearn for something and once we get it, the elegance of it seems to quickly diminish. Either that, or we convince ourselves that it was never that great to begin with.

Let's take a look at a similar example of this from the Book of Luke.

Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. ¹²As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance ¹³and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!"

¹⁴When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed.

¹⁵One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. ¹⁶He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.

¹⁷Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? ¹⁸Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" ¹⁹Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well.
Luke 17:11-19

Isn't it amazing how quickly the lepers forget about Jesus and went about their merry way?

All except for one. That's one out of ten. Only one returned to Jesus to thank Him. To put salt on the wound and make it worse, this was a Samaritan, a foreigner, whom at that time was looked down upon by the people around Jerusalem.

So, the next time that you really yearn for something and end up getting it...will you fall into the tenth percentile?

God bless you. And this if for His Glory.

Unanswered Prayers

A man got off work really late one Thursday evening. He had tried everything that he could to get off earlier because halfway across the country, his son was playing in a Thursday night college football game that was being televised on ESPN and he didn't want to miss it. On top of already being late it had been storming outside with rain, thunder, and lightning over the past several hours. The drive home was slow and not only did he have to be cautious driving in the current conditions, he also had to navigate around the other drivers. As he was driving, he said a prayer to God. He asked God to allow him to get home in time to watch his son on television. The storm continued to rage as waves upon waves of lightning flashed nearby.

Finally, after a drive that normally takes him twenty minutes, he arrived at home after an hour commute. He arrived just in time to see a group of his neighbors standing with umbrellas in his driveway. They were pointing and looking at the second floor of his house. The man froze as he stepped out of his car and understood what had happened. A very large tree had been struck by lightning and had fallen onto his house. The tree had fallen directly over his living room where the man would have been sitting watching the game. The tree had caved in half the roof and knocked the top floor down into the living room area. It was easy to see that if anyone had been sitting in the living room they could not have survived.

The story above has similarities to when Jesus predicted His death to his disciples. Jesus told them that He would suffer, die, and rise from the dead. Peter was not able to accept those remarks and took Jesus aside and rebuked him. Peter was in denial and had no idea about God's master plan.

He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
Mark8:31-33

If Peter ended up having it his way, Jesus would have never died for our sins.

We all wish and pray for things that don't come to fruition. We must trust in God's plan and have faith that He will see us through difficult times. Forcing or going against God's plan only seems to worsen the situation. Have patience and accept the situation you are in with thankfulness and reassurance that there is a greater lesson to be learned.

God bless you. And this is for His Glory!

Unforeseen Opportunities

Have you ever been asked or told to keep a secret? I think it's safe to say that we've all been in a situation like this at one point or another. What if it was something that you knew to be true, but you were told not to say anything to anyone else about it? This happens to kids in school all the time. Perhaps they witness a bully picking on another kid. Or notice a theft or some other wrong behavior, yet they keep quiet. Typically, the secret is kept out of personal fear for retribution...fear surrounding what could happen if the secret gets out. Consider the situation with the guards who guarded the tomb of Christ in Matthew 28:11-15. To add more context to this, let's first jump back to the event leading up to this in Matthew 28:1-10.

The Resurrection

¹After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

²There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. ³His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. ⁴The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

⁵The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. ⁶He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. ⁷Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."

⁸So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. ⁹Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. ¹⁰Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."

The Guards' Report

¹¹While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. ¹²When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, ¹³telling them, "You are to say, 'His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.' ¹⁴If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble." ¹⁵So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.

Can you imagine what must have been going through the minds of the guards? They personally witnessed at least one angel appear before them (for there were two, but it is unclear if the second spoke or was even seen by anyone other than Mary Magdalene at that particular time). Later, they ran back to chief priests and elders to report what they had seen. Then they were either bribed or likely even threatened not to tell anyone. Basically they were told to lie. So the guards accepted the bribe and went away. What happened to those particular guards after the resurrection is unknown. Perhaps they turned into believers and became followers of Christ. Or perhaps they just tried to forget that it had ever happened. Either way, they witnessed and heard the voice of God's angel.

In the end, this is a story about opportunity. It's obvious that the Roman guards were not expecting to have an angel appear before them. But, they had an opportunity as direct witnesses to change the beliefs of their family and friends. What would we do if we were placed in that same situation? Would we have kept quiet or spoke out? If they had kept silent as they were ordered, I wonder if they were able to sleep at night?

The point is that we never know when we'll have an opportunity to speak on Christ's behalf. Normally, opportunities are not foreseen in advance and one might suddenly present itself at a very unique or uncomfortable time. This is why we need to be ready to speak on behalf of Jesus at a moments notice. We never know when an opportunity will present itself. So speak up! Because else someone might just need to hear what you have to say. Follow Peter's advice as a guideline as the Holy Spirit speaks through him in the following verses.

¹⁵But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, ¹⁶keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. ¹⁷It is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. ¹⁸For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit

1 Peter 3:15-18

Appearances of Christ after the resurrection:

1. Mary --- John 20:10–18

2. Mary and women --- Matthew 28:1–10

3. Peter --- 1 Corinthians 15:5

4. Two disciples --- Luke 24:13–35

5. Ten apostles --- Luke 24:36–49; John 20:19–23

6. Eleven apostles --- John 20:24–31

7. Seven apostles --- John 21

8. All apostles --- Matthew 28:16–20; Mark 16:14–18

9. 500 brethren --- 1 Corinthians 15:6

10. James --- 1 Corinthians 15:7

11. All apostles --- Acts 1:4–8

12. Paul --- Acts 9:1–9; 1 Corinthians 15:8

You yourself must first believe, before you can convince others. So if you decide to speak on Christ's behalf - do so with passion. Don't sell yourself short by missing out on what was an unforeseen opportunity.

God bless you. And this is for His Glory!

The Journey

The record of the oldest person in the world to receive a college diploma is Nola Ochs. She received her Bachelor's degree in general studies and history from the Fort Hays State University, which is in the state of Kansas. It was a wonderful moment when the Governor Kathleen Sebelius awarded the degree to Nola Ochs and the crowd of 2176 graduates broke into a standing ovation at her achievement, which included Nola Ochs' own granddaughter Alexandra Ochs (the 21 year old graduated with her) . The ovation was actually against the rule as according to the rule no one would applaud or create any sort of mayhem in the graduation hall until the entire class was awarded the degrees. Nola Ochs was 95 years old when she received her Bachelor's degree on May 14th 2007. But that does not seem to be the end of her educational career. If things go right, she is even planning to pursue a Master's degree.

We've all had something that was really important for us to complete. Can you remember the last time that you wanted to achieve something and put everything you had into it? It might have been studying for a degree, training for a marathon, working toward a promotion, building something by hand, etc.

Whatever it might have been - you put everything you had into it. Perhaps it even consumed your daily thoughts and you even scheduled activities around it.

Yeah, we've all been there at least once.

That's the journey...and the journey is the part that we remember the most. Because once we achieve our goal (the destination), we feel relieved and proud of our accomplishment. Ultimately, it's the journey that molds us into the person that we needed to be in order to achieve our goal.

Think about how this translates in our relationship with Jesus. What if we put everything we had into following and obeying His word? How do you think you would change as a person? If we are going to be consumed with something, let's get consumed with the Holy Spirit. It's only then that we start to appreciate the challenges and difficulty of our journey. Then the Lord will reward us when we reach our final destination.

Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life^"will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?
Mark 8:34-36

Each person has their own unique journey through life and not all of us are blessed with longevity. So, the question is...are we doing the things that we need to do now, in order to reach our final destination?

God bless you. And this is for His Glory!

God is our Catcher

Picture yourself as a baseball player.

But you are not just ANY baseball player, you are a pitcher! It's your job to stand tall on the mound, throw strikes, and get opposing batters out. Being a pitcher, you are proud, because you have a superior arm and are always the center of attention. However, in order for you to be successful you must have excellent non-verbal communication with your catcher. The catchers responsibility is to give you a signal, (telling you what type of pitch to throw) then once he catches the ball, he'll throw it back to you. Being the proud pitcher that you are, sometimes you listen or agree with the signal your catcher gives you and sometimes you disagree and "shake him off", because you want throw an entirely different pitch.

Let's stop here for a minute...I'm going to pick this back up again, but want to briefly change gears for a moment...

How many times have worries kept you up at night?

We all experience stress in our lives and sometimes the daily struggle of life can take a toll on our bodies - spiritually, mentally, and physically. We might worry about a thousand-and-one different things ranging from...money, relationships, career, being late, children, weather, food, illness, etc. and we all handle these situations differently.

I get told by my wife all the time that I'm too laid back. She's right, I am laid back. But, I also try not to get worked up over things that might be outside of my immediate control. Worrying about something does not make the current situation any easier. In fact, it makes it more difficult because now your body is attempting to compensate for the added stress, along with trying to think through the particular problem.

In Matthew chapter 6, Jesus speaks to a gathering and tells them they should not be concerned with their daily needs. He is basically telling them that worry and anxiety are fruitless emotions that cause more harm than good. He also tells them that worrying will not extend their life, so why bother?

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life
Matt 6:27

When you have worries, pray to God and allow Him to deal with your worries in His own way. Transfer your worries to Him. God wants us to be dependent on Him. Remember - we are His children and He is our Father.

Now back to the pitcher story...

Since we've already established that you are the pitcher, now let's say God is your catcher. God gives you "signals" (Holy Spirit) in an attempt to tell you what type of pitch you need to throw. When you do throw it, God always catches it. Do the same with your worries, throw them to God. In your life the "bases might be loaded" and He is signaling for us to toss away our worries and He will catch them. That's how much He loves us. But, before He can take away our worries, we must first be willing to trust that He is giving us the right "signal."

Trust in the Lord and allow Him to catch your worries. He is constantly signaling us and trying to get our attention. Let us seek and find Him.

Here is the passage from Matthew that inspired this posting:

²⁵"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? ²⁶Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

²⁸"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

³¹So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' ³²For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matt 6:25-34

God bless you. And this is for His Glory!

The belief and obedience connection

I believe in many things...

But, either by choice, happenstance, or lack of intention I may not always follow through and do what I'm supposed to do. Here's a short Q&A to expand upon what I mean...

Q1. Do I believe that if I drive too fast I might get pulled over by the police?
A. Yes. But, do I always obey the speed limit? Certainly not all the time.

Q2. Do I believe that I should to do what my boss tells me to do?
A. Yes. But, I may not always follow his/her line of thinking and sometimes feel that I should do things differently.

Q3. Do I believe that if I exercise and eat better, that I will be heather?
A. Yes. But, I don't always follow through and do it.

Q4. Do I believe that ignorance of the law is no excuse?
A. Probably in some cases.

Q5. Do I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ?
A. Yes. But, do I always obey His word? No. I am a sinner.

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"
Romans 3:23

When we talk about belief and obedience as it pertains to God's word, it's nearly impossible to separate the two. I hear many people say, "I believe in God," then actions portray something entirely different from how the bible illustrates we should act.

Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Galatians 5:21-23

Being obedient to God means obeying His word. In order to obey His word we first must know what His word says (and understand the meaning). In order to know what His word says we must read the bible. How else are we to understand God's word if we don't read it? His words are not hidden from us, they are very easily accessible. Just as it is with today's legal system, I believe it will be the same at the day of judgement... "Ignorantia legis neminem excusat" meaning "Ignorance of the law excuses no one."

Many people become both delighted and surprised when they begin reading God's word. The Holy Spirit begins to penetrate and suddenly a whole new perspective on life and faith come rushing in.

Remember - we are responsible for seeking the Lord and gaining knowledge of His word.

Author, Betty Miller sums it up quite nicely when she illustrates how a change must occur on our end, not on God's end. Here is a small snippet from her book titled Extremes or Balance?

"If we are not receiving the answers to our prayers, we need to allow the Word of God to change us. The Word of God never changes, and Jesus never changes; so if there is any changing to be done, it must be on our end."
-Betty Miller

For I am the Lord, I change not
Malachi 3:6a

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and for ever"
Hebrews 13:8

Remember - The Lord wants us to seek Him out and find Him.

So, let us go out and find Him.

I love those who love me,
and those who seek me find me.
Proverbs 8:17

But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.
Deuteronomy 4:29

God bless you. And this is for His Glory!

10th Commandment

You decide to take a leisurely drive one evening. You feel adventurous and you go out to drive through a few towns that you've never really been to before. You enter into a nice neighborhood that slowly winds back further away from the heart of the town. It's not long before you start passing some very nice homes. Now these aren't your typical 3 bedroom, 2 story homes. You pass some lots that are a solid 2 acres deep with driveways anywhere from 50 to 150 yards long. The homes are just magnificent. Most of them are 7,000 plus square foot with at least 1 swimming pool and 4-5 car garages.

You can't help but to feel that little tug on your conscience. It's saying..."These are nice, I'd like to have one of these." In fact, the longer you drive down the road, the more you begin to do a self-evaluation. You begin to think about why you don't have the luck, brains, fame, or money to have something like this.

All of your inner thoughts are swirling because you are totally entranced by the enormity and beauty of these small mansions. You begin to think, "Wow, these people are really lucky, I wish that I could have something like this."

After you turn back toward home, you generally might have one of three reactions.

1) You are upset or depressed because you feel that you've been slighted
2) You feel thankful for the things that you have
3) It motivates you to work harder

For the purposes of this posting I'm going to focus on Option 1, as it correlates directly back to the 10th Commandment:

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's. Exodus20:17

The word "covet" means - "to wish" or "to desire"

In a nutshell it is Envy.

The 10th commandment is arguably one of the most difficult to follow in the times we live in. Our entire world revolves around money and materialistic things. Somehow it's gotten to be the "in thing" to have nice cars, a big home, fancy clothes, or the newest tech gadget. All of these things might be nice in the eyes of men, but I'd ask how are they used to give glory to God?

I'm not saying that having any of these things is a bad thing. But, it's something that we must carefully manage so these things do not consume our lives and become our priority. There is not a single item that a person has that God doesn't allow them to possess. All of our possessions are 'on loan'. We don't own them, God does. And in the blink of an eye and by His Will, He can take them away or multiply them tenfold.

Let's try to remember to give thanks everyday for the things that God has blessed us with. I promise you there are so many people in a far worse situations.

To put things into perspective:

Approx 3-5 % of the worlds population have internet access. And only about 25% of the worlds population sleep in their own bed at night and only about 30% of the worlds population are rich enough to have a bank account.

Final Thoughts

In retrospect, the 10th Commandment is really the first stop on the "sin express". By the word "express" I mean that it will take you down quickly...and once you hop on board, don't expect to get off anytime soon. Envy will lead to greed. Greed could lead to lying, selfishness, or theft...and these could lead to far worse things.

The next time you are in a situation where you start to feel envious, stop for a moment to tell God about the top 2 or 3 things that you are most thankful for.

Let's remember to have patience and enjoy the gifts that God has given us. We never know how long He's going to allow us to keep these gifts, or when He will ultimately call us home to final judgment.

God bless you. And this is for His Glory!