...Is doing what is hard."
This quote is from an article by Mark W. Gaither, published in Insights (Sept. 2007, p.2), the monthly newsletter from Insight for Living. I found it challenging to me, for, like in the life of King Saul, I find myself often doing what's right as long as it aligns with my comfort—or put another way: doing God's will when it happens to be mine as well. This is dangerous dealing and must be abandoned posthaste!
"Generally speaking, people have two important values they hope to preserve: comfort and integrity. And, more often than not, right choices are the best way to preserve both. Obedience to the law and honest dealings are not only right, but they pay good dividends—usually. However, doing what is right often requires as step of faith, and it may include a measure of suffering. That's when we come face-to-face with an ugly truth: We typically make decisions that preserve our comfort and then feel relieved when they also happen tot maintain our integrity. When doing what is right requires us to choose between comfort and integrity, the resulting crisis can be debilitating. Because the instinct to safeguard our comfort is so powerful, we will have to be deliberate about making integrity the primary value in every decision—even the easy ones."
