Bread Bite: Reap in Joy

Southern Cancer Center’s “Bread Bite” series shares weekly words of encouragement and inspiration from area churches. This week’s message is from Pastor Daniel Blaylock of Forest Hill Church of God in Mobile.

Pastor Daniel-

Today’s verse of the day is found in Psalm 126:5. “Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy.”

Donald Whitney once said, “FREEDOM IS THE REWARD OF DISCIPLINE”.

As parents of three children, one of the hardest lessons we have to teach them is DELAYED GRATIFICATION! It’s the lesson Dave Ramsey teaches his guests every day on his radio show about personal finances. “Live like nobody else now so you can live like nobody else in the future.” If we live a disciplined life, show restraint, and delay gratification now, we can be debt-free, financially stable, and have enough put aside later in life to enjoy the next season when it gets here. But if we insist on “living our best life” now and financing it with debt, we’ll likely get jammed up in a major kind of way later on down the road.

This principle isn’t just true when it comes to money; it’s true about almost every area of life. An athlete who disciplines herself and conditions her body in order through diet, exercise, and rigorous training today. The discipline she endures today will enable her the freedom to excel in competition. Running wind sprints up and down the bleachers is not fun, but it WILL enable you to play a full period of full-court basketball without running out of gas!

What “hard task” are you avoiding today? Don’t hesitate. A wise man said, “If you have to eat a frog, do it first thing in the morning.” Is there a difficult conversation you need to have? Is there a tough assignment you need to complete? Stop dreading it and delaying it – EAT THE FROG! Why? Because “those who sow in tears (now) shall reap in joy (later).