PLEASURE AND PAIN
Hebrews 11:25 says that Moses chose “to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.”
Every pleasure in life involves a measure of pain. Someone has noted that in every life some rain must fall.
Nobody experiences any pleasure without enduring some pain. Someone has to suffer before anybody can enjoy a certain pleasure. The freedoms we enjoy in America today came from others who paid an awful price. The joys of motherhood come after the pangs of child-birth.
In temporal pleasure, pain comes after the pleasure.
- Get drunk—Have a good time—suffer later
- Take drugs—get high— suffer later;
- Engage in pre-marital sex—get pregnant—suffer later
- Have an adulterous affair—enjoy a fling—ruin marriage—pain comes later.
In eternal pleasure, pain comes before the pleasure.
- Christ suffers—endures the cross—Joy of salvation.
- Work hard—Do your best—Crown of rejoicing at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
- Fast, pray, and weep then comes the joy — “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.” “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning” (Ps. 30:5).
Pain is a matter of life. Take your pick—Suffer first then enjoy pleasure. Or, enjoy some pleasure now and later suffer the pain.
