Three Disciplines That Bring Joy

God never says we can’t own homes or be wealthy. Sometimes that’s the way God chooses to bless His people. God does call us to redeem time, situation and people with our wealth and to have the right perspective about the wealth God has given to us.

When we spend only on ourselves all of our lives, whatever we have, dies when we die. If, however, we have exchanged our time, energy and money for eternal things, such as partnering with God in the work of missions to reach the unsaved, we leave a legacy of joy for self, joy for those who are saved through our time, energy and financial investment, and when we get to Heaven, the joy of being with God will certainly be there.

Whatever your response is to the word discipline, know that the discipline of delayed gratification is absolutely necessary in life in order to experience maximum enjoyment of life, even eternal life.

Conclusion:

Let me close by introducing us to Dr. Han Kyung Chik. I want to read an excerpt from a book, "He [Dr. Han] astonishes people who meet him because of his unassuming behavior. He stays in the mountains of Korea with his daughter and son-in-law, doing his work, his study, and his sleeping all in a single room no larger than a normal size living room in the United States.

But this man’s influence is felt around the world. His church of 60,000 members, regards him so highly that they built him a posh residence on the Young Nak Presbyterian Church property. In that area, at current prices, the residence would command a million-dollar value -- or more. He declined to live there. He understands and lives out the truth that "a man’s life consists not in the abundance of things which he possesses." Dr. Han has raised millions of dollars for the Lord’s work around the world. He has built colleges, orphanages, middle schools, homes for the disadvantaged; not a dollar has stuck to his hands.

Paul wrote in verse 21, "For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain."

Warren Wiersbe asks how we might complete the sentence, "For to me to live is money and to die is to leave it all behind?"

"For to me to live is fame and to die is to be forgotten?"

"For to me to live is power and to die is to lose it all?"

Or is it, "For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain?"

How empty and meaningless our lives would be, no matter how long we live or how much we possess, unless we exercise the discipline of redemption, the discipline of perspective and the discipline of delayed gratification for God’s sake.