Choose your hard

 

Isa sa mantra ng mga fitness enthusiasts ay training is hard but not training is also hard. Choose your hard. 

If you don't train, you are unfit, possibly with health issues and most likely with esteem issues. Living with an unfit, unhealthy body and with self-esteem issues is hard. 

But if you choose to train, it is also hard. You will be sore. You will get tired. You will need discipline. 

I don't know about you but I'd rather choose the hard of training over the hard of unfitness. 

Spiritually speaking we're also facing a choice. Do we choose the hard of self-denial or do we choose the hard of self-love? 

Most will choose self-love because they never see it as hard. They see it as easy, comfortable and gratifying. That is because the cost of self -love is hidden; it isn't easily seen. You see it later, much later: missed dinners, ruined relationships, misplaced priorities and bodily harm (if your self-love takes the form of gluttony and substance abuse). 

Most definitely reject self-denial. They think it is hard. It is not comfortable, it is not gratifying. They cannot see the beauty of delayed gratification (delaying this life's gratification for eternity's gratification). They think people who deny themselves are not wise. They suffer by their own hands. 

I disagree. Even in secular matters, self-denial is beneficial. I know of people who are in debts because they cannot deny themselves with material gratification and choose to indulge. I know of people who have broken health and broken family because they cannot say no to vice. 

The same thing is true spiritually. If we do not deny ourselves and walk in God's way, we're on the road to death. The road looks comfortable, but it is a passing pleasures of sin. We're on mincing steps to destruction. We don't know it because the world is serenading us with its songs. We happily walk to the ways of death. 

Listen to the Holy Spirit. He will guide you using the Word of God. He'll teach you to deny yourselves and live in godliness. It looks hard now but we need to embrace this with gladness. It will pay dividends for all eternity. 

Choose your hard. 

Manatiling nakapokus sa biyaya. Huwag ninyong hayaang nakawin ng mga huwad na guro ang inyong karapatang mag-isip ng doktrina.

(Kung gusto ninyo ng karagdagang impormasyon, bisitahin ninyo kami. May pagtitipon kami sa Dahat, kada Linggo, kada 1:00-3:00 pm. Sana manampalataya kayo at kita-kita tayo.

Isang mahalagang paalala: ang mga blogs na ito ay personal kong opinyon at eksposisyon; hindi ito opisyal na pananaw ng Partido Christian Bible Church. Kung nais ninyong malaman ang kanilang opisyal na posisyun, magtanong kayo sa mga matanda ng simbahan. Ang Nieto Bible Page ay isang hiwalay na ministri mula sa PCBC at independiyente rito. Nakikipagtipon ako sa PCBC, pero may personal akong kumbiksiyon sa mga bagay. Bagama't miyembro (muli) ako ng teaching and ruling leadership ng PCBC, anumang mabasa ninyo rito ay hiwalay sa kanila. Anumang nasusulat ay aking pananagutan. 

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