Pain or Pleasure?
Pain or Pleasure?
The Proper Mindset
Tony Robbins, who is a well-known author, public speaker and life coach made a great quote at one of his seminars that will forever resonate with me. He said “People will do more to avoid pain than they will to gain pleasure.” How true is that? Growing up I hated doing homework. I associated more pain doing my homework than I did playing games or watching TV. I’d much rather avoid the pain and gain the pleasure. This is our society in a nutshell: instant gratification. We want the reward and we want it now without any pain of displeasure in the process. We are creatures of habit; we’re inclined to take the path of least resistance and to fall into comfortable patterns and habits. I want to apply this in a spiritual sense. Suppose Noah didn’t feel up to the task of getting up and resuming the building of the ark every day for multiple decades? That’s a long time and the payoff wouldn’t happen for many decades until the flood came. How about when God commanded Abraham to go and leave his home into a land he would direct him to in Gen. 12:1-3? God’s chosen seed started with one man’s decision to obey God rather than himself. These are just two examples and we can name many more but the truth remains the same: We must decide that the pleasure gained from the outcome far exceeds the temporal pain experienced in the present. Apathy is a powerful weapon in the arsenal of the devil. We have to decide that the work is worth the payoff! Abraham obeyed God and it was counted to him as righteousness (Gen 15:6). Noah delivered his household and saved humanity by his decision to obey God.
My mindset shifted when I went to school at the Northwest Florida school of Biblical Studies. I associated more pain with not getting my work done, flunking out, and returning to the sheriff’s office working a job I didn’t enjoy. I associated more pleasure with getting my work done so that I could preach God’s word, help people get to heaven and enjoy the people and the friendships I would make along the way.
Beloved, we have to decide that the work is worth the payoff! Choose to delay gratification and associate more pleasure getting to heaven than the pain of service to God in our life here on earth.
Heaven will surely be worth it all.
Matthew Okolichany