A thought by Henry Cloud, from his book, Never Go Back: 10 Things You’ll Never Do Again (p. 83). Howard Books. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)
Now, what does that mean?
Henry says, “I learned that ‘lazy’ does not mean ‘couch potato’ or ‘inactive’ at all. In fact, some of the ‘laziest’ people are very, very active.”
He goes on, “I began to do some research into the meaning of the word ‘sluggard’ as it is used in the Bible. I saw that it is closely tied to the word ‘indolent’ and other meanings that basically refer to people who want a life that is devoid of ‘pain.’ So you can be lazy, or a sluggard as the Bible puts it, and still be very active. But in all of your energy and activity, you will still be lazy about doing anything uncomfortable or that involves pain. So I began to understand something: The true definition of ‘sluggard’ is someone who avoids pain.”
He continues, “Here is the truth: Once successful people know they want something that requires a painful, time-limited step, they do not mind the painful step because it gets them to a long-term benefit.
“I cannot overstate how many times I’ve seen this confirmed in real life—from the simplest things to the most difficult. It is just a law of the universe: Anything of value has this rhythm to it: pain first, payoff later. If we face the pain early, the payoff will come.
“And the converse is true as well: If we avoid the pain now, the payoff will never come. And more pain will.
“Living out this principle is one of the most fundamental differences between successful and unsuccessful people, both personally and professionally. Successful people will go through the brief, time-limited, painful step to get to what they want, and unsuccessful people will not.
“I saw this in working with successful people and unsuccessful people side by side. The successful people would always do the hard thing, and the unsuccessful ones would not. The unsuccessful people would put it off because they didn’t want to go through the pain. I began to see that people who avoid pain will not get what they want. Period.”
He says, “I knew this truth in the people I worked with, but then I began to see it in the Bible as well. Over and over again, I saw the theme: pain first, payoff later. No pain, no gain. Death before resurrection. Discipline before strength. Investment before return.
“So, stated simply, here is the ‘I will never go back to’ principle: I will never go back to avoiding something I know I need to do just because it is going to be painful.”
He then says, “This is so obvious . . . but it is a principle that is avoided every day by very smart people. I see it over and over in the difference between people who get what they want in life and those who don’t. The ones who succeed go through the short-term painful step, and the ones who don’t, don’t.”
So, if we really want to be used by God to make a difference in our family, our life, our relationships, and our professions then we need to never go back to avoiding something that we need to do just because it is going to be painful. You see that, don’t you?
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