One of my illustrations on Sunday concerning the importance of living a disciplined life was the full wall poster in one of the university’s weight rooms where all the athletes work out. It shows a man straining to lift a weight, sweat fairly bursting from a grimacing face, veins bulging on his neck. The caption reads: “There are two kinds of pain: the pain of discipline, and the pain of regret.”
According to Solomon this is most specifically true regarding sexual purity. He speaks to his son and pleads with him to reserve his activity with his wife only. If you are promiscuous, he says, if you don’t discipline your sexual appetite, you will live to regret it. Verses 11 & 12 of chapter five says if you don’t practice discipline in this area specifically, “At the end of your life, you will lament when your physical body has been consumed, and you will say, how I hated discipline, and how my heart despised correction.”
According to a Reuters report from Stockholm, Sweden has long ago arrived at complete sexual freedom and liberty. Old-fashioned fornication is quite accepted by parents as normal for their youngsters. It is reported that only 5% of the girls and 2% of the boys go with their purity to the marriage altar. Is this moral deterioration reflected in Sweden’s having the highest percentage of suicides of any country of the world?
There are two kinds of pain: The pain of discipline, and the pain of regret. It’s your choice.
Chuck
“At the end of your life, you will lament …how I hated discipline, and how my heart despised correction.” Proverbs 5:11-12