Take your medicine without complaining

A very dear friend of mine made some really serious blunders with his finances and ended up owing an enormous amount of money. I have made this mistake myself and it can weigh on you. My friend came to me and was looking for an easy solution to a difficult situation. I counseled him that unfortunately he did not get in that situation overnight and no doubt it would take some fair amount of time to work his way out of it. I offered some sound advice as to how best to develop a business plan to combat this situation and work through it daily.

Candidly I think my friend wanted me to just give them the money that they needed to surmount their obstacles quickly, rather than merely offering advice as to how best to work his way out of the mess in a little over a year of intense difficulty.

Hmmm I do not think I would have done him any favor had I done so.

If I had just given him the money that he needed, what would have prevented him from simply amassing a similar amount of debt just as soon as he saw daylight again and was all clear to begin? Consider someone who got all tanked up and drunk as a skunk and got out on the highway and a highway patrolman pulled them over for driving while intoxicated. What if the officer just smiled and with a “wink and a nod” told them to be careful and just let them off with a slight warning vs. taking them to jail, taking their driver’s license for six months, and fining them heavily. Who would be more likely to have learned the lesson? The person who did not have to suffer the dire consequence, or the person who just skated by with no consequence? We all know the answer to that one

I am happy to say that my friend took the advice that I offered and slowly worked the plan until the debt was manageable. He did it in a little over a year. Today he can easily see light at the end of the tunnel and will be *completely* debt free by the first of the year. He is very proud of what he has accomplished and he has told me that he learned a great deal about properly managing his money. He told me that he might make mistakes in the future, but he will *never* make the same mistake that caused him so much consternation.

At the time, he wanted the easy way out, but now he has earned the valuable expertise that he needs to manage money intelligently. The hard lessons learned have also earned him the absolute thrill of achieving a difficult goal through carefully following a plan and yes *sacrificing*. This will remain with him for a lifetime.

There are no shortcuts in life and the best lessons are the ones that we learn through the most difficult struggles. No one enjoys hardships, but mistakes come with consequences. When suffering through them, just remember when you emerge that you will be stronger and a far better person for it than had you somehow avoided it.

Sin has its consequence too. When the consequence comes, grit your teeth and bear it and take your medicine without complaining. God wants us to succeed and in His great wisdom understands that some lessons must be hard lessons in order for them to remain with us for a lifetime.

With all of that said, we should always remember that God forgives sin. Jesus Christ took our consequence for all of our lifetimes of sin on the cross and what a consequence He endured for us. Salvation, God’s gift to all of mankind, came at the heaviest price. Won’t you accept His free gift today?

Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but
the gift of God is eternal life in
Christ Jesus our Lord.