Discipline Is Painful Now, But Worth It Later | Hebrews 12:11

Devotional

This devotional marks the beginning of a hopefully never-ending series that aims to motivate you to not only strengthen your faith but also provide guidance for your lifting journey.

This two-part blog will feature a verse accompanied by a devotional, followed by a workout with tips to help you grow. We hope that the insights shared will nurture your mental and physical well-being as you continue your faith-driven path.

For our first devotional, we will take a look at Hebrews 12:11,

“For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

As a standalone verse, Hebrews 12:11 is the perfect embodiment of what this blog is intended to be. Often times, we shy away from a tough workout because we do not have the discipline to pursue the end goal. Nothing good in life is achieved overnight, and consistent dedication is often unpleasant.

It is important to understand the context, though. Discipline in this chapter of Hebrews is not internal discipline, rather discipline from an external source. More specifically, this is discipline from the Father.

Earlier in this chapter, Jesus served as an example of how to pursue righteousness when met with hard times. Hebrews 12:3-4 says, “Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.”

When comparing the struggles He faced with obstacles that we face today, our problems are quickly put into perspective. It is important to remember that hard times are simply training for a life of faith.

One example given in Hebrews 12 of a man who lacked faith is Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. Rather than working hard and being patient for something that he knew he would receive, he chose instant gratification, losing his birthright.

When we look at who we want to be in our own lives, would we rather model our decisions after Jesus who was willing to receive crucifixion with love and respect or Esau who swore his birthright to Jacob for bread and stew?

I like to think we would all choose to live with the end goal in mind and make good choices today to faithfully lead us in the right direction. Although unpleasant at the time, we look to train to reap the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

Workout

Below is the workout for the day.

As background to the current program, it is a push, pull, leg program with an emphasis on strength. For most lifts, we will prioritize one primary strength lift in the 1-5 rep range followed by accessories in the 8-12 rep range.

For back day, I use pull ups as the strength exercise (which you will see below) as it is a static start with low risk of injury. Although different muscles, deadlifts can be subsidized with the same rep range.

In any instance there is a “+”, it will indicate AMRAP or “to failure”.

Pull-Up:

3 sets of 4 reps

3 sets of 1 rep

Cable Single-Arm Row:

4 sets of 12 reps

Cable Bar Bicep Curl:

4 sets of 12 reps

Dumbbell Chest-Supported Row:

4 sets of 12 reps

Superset

Cable Bar Straight Arm Pull Down:

3 sets of 12 reps

1 set of 12+ reps

Dumbbell Hammer Curl:

3 sets of 12 reps

1 set of 12+ reps