“For godly grief and the pain God is permitted to direct produce a repentance that leads and contributes to salvation and deliverance from evil, and it never brings regret; but worldly grief (the hopeless sorrow that is characteristic of the pagan world) is deadly [breeding and ending in death].” — 2 Corinthians 7:10 AMPC

A wise man once said, “The pain of discipline is better than the pain of regret.” We are breeding so much indiscipline in our world today that will lead to eternal regret for many people.

My brother has been teaching on the Economy of God’s Kingdom for a while now. If you’ve been following the series attentively, you’ll recall that he taught us that many people know fathers but are not given to sonship — that is, they are merely fans who do not submit to being trained to become great in life.

I know you believe your life is your own and that nobody can tell you what to do with it. Continue, then — but have you ever sat yourself down to ask, “With the way I’m living my life currently, how will my end be?”

Many people have run away from home because their parents rebuked them for their wrongdoings — and they believe themselves to be smart, right?

Some of us are who we are today because we gave ourselves to tutelage, rebuke, many spankings, and painful experiences that birthed the talented speaker, writer, musician, administrator, great leader, and anointed pastor you see today.

I once heard a story of a man whose friend came to visit him at his office. When his friend left, he forgot something that looked like a stone on the man’s desk. The man wondered how the stone got there and thought maybe one of his staff had left it, so he kept it in his drawer.

After a few days, his friend returned, saying he had forgotten something valuable in the office. The man brought out the “stone,” and his friend was overjoyed because he thought he had lost it. But noticing the man’s indifferent attitude, the friend asked, “Do you know what this is?” The man replied, “No.” The friend said, “It’s raw gold.” The man was shocked.

Just like gold that has to be refined, you admire great people and desire to be like them. But I’m telling you now — the way to also become great is to go through the intense fire of discipline.

You want to be like the product without going through the process, you are cheat.

Remember the words of the wise man: “The pain of discipline is better than the pain of regret.”

Don’t wait until it’s too late before saying, “I wish I had done this or that.” Go through the process now.