My wife Julie and I had milestone birthdays recently. We both entered our 50’s and to celebrate our birthdays we took a week-long trip on our tandem bicycle. Our intent was to celebrate by being together, but we could have done that by sitting on a beach. For our 50th we wanted to prove to ourselves that we were resisting the march of time, so we rode for hours each day.
I couldn’t let it rest there, however. My response to turning 50 had to be bigger so I booked a cycling trip in the Italian Dolomite Mountains. Over 6 days this trip will see my companions and me climb about 40,000 vertical feet of elevation. One day we will ride up the 48 switchbacks to the Stelvio Pass over 9,000 feet high. Another day we will attempt both Mortirolo and Gavia. The description says about the Mortirolo, “The narrow, winding road is incredibly steep in parts with an average grade of 10.5% – mercifully the climb is only 7.5 miles long.” And that is the smaller of the climbs that day! As you can imagine, I need to be in absolutely top shape to survive this experience. Getting into form involves lifting weights in the gym, thousands of miles of slow base training in the winter months, and hill repeats: climbing a practice hill over and over to improve my climbing form. I have increasingly difficult events and races planned each month leading up to the trip. In order to have the pleasure of standing on top of the Stelvio, I have to submit to the discipline of training all winter and spring. Discipline is the door I need to pass through to enter into pleasure.
This applies in every area of life. Work is the door to a paycheck. Faithfulness is the door to a lasting marriage. Engaged parenting is the door to healthy kids. Good eating and exercise is the door to a healthy body. Saving money is the door to building wealth. Studying is the door to good grades. Spiritual disciplines are the door to transcendence. Diligence is the door to success. Weeding is the door to a flourishing garden. Not many people get excited about weeding, but we all love to see beautiful flowers and delicious vegetables.
Some people seek pleasure (or results or outcomes) directly without discipline. But pleasure is the door to bondage. In other words, if you skip the discipline and just seek the pleasure, it short circuits the process and you and up captive. Here are a couple quick examples
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Some people seek the experience of transcendence without practicing spiritual disciplines. They may use heroin or crystal meth or cocaine. And they experience something. In fact, that pleasure is so intense that they become addicted to it and everything else in their life must submit to getting the next dose of pleasure. People lose careers, fortunes, families and significance because they sought pleasure without discipline.
Others seek fortune without putting in all the work that properly leads to wealth. They may steal, rob banks, or cook up fraudulent schemes to take other people’s money. Ultimately they get caught and go to prison. Even the most sophisticated Ponzi schemer of all time, Bernie Madoff, ended up in prison. Seeking pleasure is the door to bondage.
Put in the work for whatever goal you have. Discipline is to door to pleasure. Short circuiting the process by seeking pleasure itself will lead to bondage.
*I first heard this model from Pastor Joel Brooks.