this strange, satisfying pattern

I'm a big fan of the folks over at Desiring God. They maintain a number of resources that come in almost every medium possible. They have a number of great materials already on sale, and they also have this great "whatever-you-can-afford" policy for those who truly need it.

Me, I simply subscribe to the daily blog which is emailed out. Today's blog by Jon Bloom struck me as something interesting to share because of its universality and importance. The following is an excerpt from today's blog titled When You Don't Feel Like It, Take Heart:

Think about this strange pattern that occurs over and over in just about every area of life:

• Good food requires discipline to prepare and eat while junk food tends to be the most tasty, addictive, and convenient.
• Keeping the body healthy and strong requires frequent deliberate discomfort while it only takes constant comfort to go to pot.
• You have to make yourself pick up that nourishing theological book while watching a movie can feel so inviting.
• You frequently have to force yourself to get to devotions and prayer while sleeping, reading the sports, and checking Facebook seems effortless.
• To play beautiful music requires thousands of hours of tedious practice.
• To excel in sports requires monotonous drills ad nauseum.
• It takes years and years of schooling just to make certain opportunities possible.
• This goes on and on.

The pattern is this: the greater joys are obtained through struggle and pain, while brief, unsatisfying, and often destructive joys are right at our fingertips.

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:17-18)

Give us strength to overlook brief joy in search of eternal joy.