No Pain No Gain

When I was little, I often heard the phrase "No pain no gain" from all those Hollywood movies from HBO and Star Movies. Not that I really understood the meaning back then but it sure sounded cool.

It didn't take me very long to understand the true meaning of that phrase. So all my life, I've been enduring lots of "pain" to get a little bit of "gain". Nothing ever comes easy.

I'm not a legalistic person but more of a discipline person. A lot of people still couldn't tell the difference between a legalism freak and a discipline practitioner. I'll make it simple for you to understand.

Legalism: Being bounded by set of rules word for word
Discipline: Mastering a set of rules through its spirit

Whenever we try to introduce discipline living, they said we are going back to the Moses days of commandments. Thou shall not this, thou shall not that...

So instead of practicing spiritual disciplines, they're "forcing" God to give them grace and they'll be so thankful that God has heard their prayers. For example, I don't really study much for exam, I just watch TVB series all night long. When exam comes, I pray hard for God to give me good results to "glorify Your name". It's a bit like, God, if You don't act, it's not me who is shamed but You are!

It may sound right in some sense but my question is, wouldn't it be better if we had live a discipline lifestyle and God bless us with His grace? Isn't that a more beautiful picture? For example, I study very hard for exam, I don't skip prayer meetings or Sunday Service just because I wanted extra study hours, I pray for God to bless me abundantly with good results for His name sake. Isn't this a lot better?

So why are we still living like parasites?

The bad news is discpline lifestyle doesn't come easy. It involves a lot of sacrifices, commitments, determinations and endurance.

Of course, young people these days know NOTHING about "no pain no gain" or in Chinese words 先苦后甜.

Sure they wanted growth (in fact, lots of them!) and lots of gain but they're unwilling to sacrifice themselves in any ways or put much effort into it. How many times have we heard them say, "Oh I wanna grow more in Christ" but their actions always show the opposite?!

Nothing comes easily in this World. Try scoring HD in all your university subjects without studying for a single second! If you can do it, I'll buy you a BMW. Try to be like an apostle without learning and applying the Word of God in your lives, then I'll call you Master!!

Stop acting like a pampered baby that wants mummy to change your diapers everyday. GROW UP & take responsibilities to your own life! It's YOUR decision.

NO PAIN NO GAIN, Christians are no exception!