“For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it<\/em>” (Hebrews 12:11).<\/p>\n “When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for the joy that a human being has been born into the world<\/em>” (John 16:21).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n You may be angry, but that person may have just saved your life. From childhood, we learn discomfort is a good thing in the long run. Burning your finger on a flame taught you the danger of fire. Cutting your hand on a blade taught you to be careful around knives. Maybe more than anything else, we learned from our parents’ discipline to obey those in authority. Temporary distress taught us lasting lessons. We applied those childhood lessons to our lives. Getting good grades in school meant doing the homework and studying for tests. Winning at sports meant putting in the hard practice time.\u00a0Promotions at work meant going beyond the minimum to impress your superiors. Choosing a mate included awkward but necessary conversations and final decisions. You made the difficult choice to set boundaries for certain things or people in your life.<\/p>\n We learned that any worthwhile goal was going to take hard work that would make us uncomfortable at times \u2010 often for a long time. Scripture abounds with these lessons: Funerals are difficult; parties are fun. But which teaches us more? (Ecclesiastes 7:2\u20104). Fasting was a form of self\u2010discipline to focus on the important (Matthew 6:17-18; Daniel 9:3). Paul’s thorn in the flesh humbled him (II Corinthians 12:7).<\/p>\n The wide road is easy. The narrow road is difficult. Only one leads to life. (Matthew 7:13\u201014) Paul and Barnabas had an uncomfortable disagreement about John Mark. They had to go their separate ways. That awkwardness led to many more people being reached with the gospel message (Acts 15:36\u201041). They later reconciled (Colossians 4:10).<\/p>\n Haggai reprimanded the people for living in paneled houses while God’s house was in ruins. It was not a pleasant conversation, but it led to the right thing being done (Haggai 1). Confronting a brother about sin in his life will never be easy, but it is our duty (Galatians 6:1-2).<\/p>\n That brief time of discomfort might bring about a lifetime, and perhaps an eternity, of joy. That initial conversation with a non-Christian may be awkward but think about what it may lead to. So many Christians are now very thankful that someone dared to make them uncomfortable. Your discomfort may be your salvation.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Norman Harber “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11). “When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[188],"class_list":["post-31405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-trials"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":36683,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-love-this-website\/","url_meta":{"origin":31405,"position":0},"title":"I love this website","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 22, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I love this website. I am thankful to God for you. Please keep me in prayer, as I live daily with sin and striving to walk in God's way. It seems in life we are too comfortable with our sins. I want something more! God bless. Answer: I'm glad\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29382,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-far-can-we-go-in-touching-each-other\/","url_meta":{"origin":31405,"position":1},"title":"How far can we go in touching each other?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 30, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have been in a relationship with this girl for quite a few months, and well it's hard for her to show her emotions toward me through words; she is a feeling person, and I'm one too, but not as much. When we're alone, we just hug tightly, play\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":55247,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/sojourners-and-pilgrims\/","url_meta":{"origin":31405,"position":2},"title":"Sojourners and Pilgrims","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ed Brand Peter urges saints to regard themselves as sojourners and pilgrims. A\u00a0 sojourner is one who lives among aliens. Pilgrims live in a strange place, away from one's own people. Hostility is injected into this alien, strange place by the phrase, which wars against the soul (I Peter\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/wanderer-300x199.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":36809,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/im-trying-to-forgive-my-wife-for-the-adultery-she-committed-but-im-finding-it-hard-to-forget\/","url_meta":{"origin":31405,"position":3},"title":"I’m trying to forgive my wife for the adultery she committed, but I’m finding it hard to forget","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 28, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good evening, sir, I was told about your website and that you can help me with some questions I have about my marriage. I have been married for less than ten years. Well, last year my wife was seeing another guy from work. I found her messages when she\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58621,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/pauls-tentmaking\/","url_meta":{"origin":31405,"position":4},"title":"Paul’s Tentmaking","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 1, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by James Shewmaker I have come to the conclusion that a lot of people have a misunderstanding of Paul's tentmaking. When Paul left Berea due to an \"invasion\" by Thessalonican enemies, his companions stayed behind. Those brethren who escorted him to Achaia returned home, leaving Paul all alone. At the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Acts_of_the_Apostles_Chapter_18-2_Bible_Illustrations_by_Sweet_Media-300x220.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":36744,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/im-interested-in-a-girl-but-she-is-planning-to-teach-in-another-country-for-a-year\/","url_meta":{"origin":31405,"position":5},"title":"I’m interested in a girl, but she is planning to teach in another country for a year","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 26, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I found another godly girl who is absolutely amazing. We teach each other about Christ. I really like this girl and I'm excited about what God has in store for her future as a teacher. Her dream is to teach in China when she graduates. She wants to teach\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31405\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/discomfort.png\")
Who wants to be uncomfortable? Who wouldn’t want to wear familiar, comfortable jeans rather than scratchy, stiff dress pants? Discomfort is exactly why we don’t want to diet or exercise. We tend to lean toward the easy, the familiar, and the comfortable. But the easy path is seldom the best. Never confronting the unfamiliar turns us inward. Always being comfortable makes us soft and selfish. Avoiding diets or exercising is the very reason why you start thinking about starting a diet or exercise program. You have let yourself get into a condition where it’s now necessary to change to avoid something worse. You may have come to this conclusion on your own, or perhaps someone else suggested it. How did you respond when that person talked to you? Anger, resentment, embarrassment?<\/p>\n