For Long-term Gain, Choose Short-term Pain - Daily Hope with Rick Warren - November 16, 2024

Audio By Carbonatix

For Long-term Gain, Choose Short-term Pain
By Rick Warren

“[Moses] chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.” Hebrews 11:25 (NIV)

If you’re going to be good at anything—if you’re going to have long-term gain—you’ve got to accept short-term pain. Anybody who’s ever played sports knows this. To end up in a championship game, you’ve got to work hard and practice for long hours.

But it’s true in more than sports. It’s true in finances and in relationships. I have a good marriage, but Kay and I have worked hard at it for years. It didn’t come easy. To make your marriage work, you’ve got to work at it, just like anything else in life.

Many of your problems come from your inability to delay gratification. Society teaches you to say, “I want everything, and I want it now. And I want it to be free and easy.” But life doesn’t work like that!

To experience long-term gain, you have to make a choice, like Moses did: “He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:25 NIV).

He chose to be mistreated—to endure short-term pain for the long-term gain of doing the right thing.

Pain is part of life. And if you choose to do the hard thing right now and put in the effort to learn and grow, to become strong and mature, then later in life you will benefit from it.

For example, some people are benefiting right now from decisions they made earlier in life not to spend more than they made—to save, tithe, and honor God. They’re benefiting many years later because they were disciplined and did the hard thing first.

When you choose the short-term pain like Moses did, you’ll see God deliver you so that you can enjoy the long-term reward.

PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick

For more Daily Hope with Rick Warren, please visit pastorrick.com!

Your Gift Brings Hope to the World

Transform your prayer life with God’s Word! 

True breakthrough from the struggles of life begins with prayer—and there is no better place to start cultivating a powerful prayer life than the Bible. 

Discover the biblical wisdom you need to transform the way you pray when you dive into this special collection of verses from God’s Word. You’ll be inspired and encouraged by Scripture as you learn to trust in his promises. 

Drawing key verses from Pastor Rick’s "40 Days of Prayer" teaching series, this set of 52 beautifully designed cards will help you memorize God’s Word so you can access it when you need it most—and it’s our thanks for your gift today to help more people experience the transformative power of prayer through Daily Hope! 

Thank you for helping share the hope of Jesus Christ. May you enjoy a time of breakthrough as you fill your heart and mind with the truth of Scripture. 

*The USA IRS code permits you to deduct the amount of your financial gift to Daily Hope that exceeds the fair market value of “current offer” materials you received from Daily Hope.

This devotional © 2018 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

You can listen to Rick Warren on OnePlace.com.