October 1, 2026
Psychiatrist Dr. M. Scott Peck wrote a great book entitled, The Road Less Traveled. His first statement is, “Life is difficult.” He goes on to explain that life is a series of problems and that solving these problems is painful. People tend to seek pleasure and avoid pain. But avoiding the pain of a problem does not make it disappear. In fact, avoided problems usually get worse over time.
Procrastination is nearly always an attempt to avoid the pain of solving some problem, hoping it will go away. By contrast, facing up to problems and attempting to solve them provides us with mental and spiritual growth and even wisdom. Avoiding problems, according to Dr. Peck, is often the basis of mental illness. And he adds that we are all a little mentally ill. No one is perfectly healthy.
Dr. Peck offers four tools of discipline required to solve life’s problems. They are (1) delaying gratification, (2) accepting responsibility, (3) dedication to truth, and (4) balancing. To delay gratification means to first take care of unpleasant things in order to then enjoy those that are pleasant. Do the unpleasant task first to get it out of the way in order not to have to worry about it.
As a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, I preach that the thing to do first is to believe in and trust Christ for His salvation. This is by far the single most important thing anyone ever does on earth. After doing that, no one has anything to really worry about in life. Jesus made this very clear in John 14:6, where He says, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
In order to solve any problem, one must first accept responsibility for it. I have known, for example, grown children who would not accept the responsibility of seeing about their aged parents. God addresses this by saying through Paul, “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Timothy 5:8).
God has provided all His children (Christians) spiritual gifts for the purpose of edifying His church on earth. Christians who are obedient enough to do this find great joy and happiness in serving the Lord, because He always rewards any service for Him. The Apostle Paul reminded his protege, Timothy, to “Stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands” (II Timothy 1:6).
When a Christian uses his gifts to serve the Lord, he is accepting the responsibility God has given him. He will thereby reap the benefits of joy, spiritual growth, and wisdom that God always provides in return for obedience.
An obedient Christian can also expect rewards in heaven. Jesus advises us, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matthew 6:19-20).
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Ralph Fudge is the pastor of Big Ochlocknee Baptist Church in Coolidge, Ga., and has a Master’s degree in theology from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
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