Verbatim references:

None
Et sic de similibus references:

Before us lies two pathways.
Deuteronomy 30:19  I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
20  That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

One pathway seems to lead to hardships and sufferings and the possibility of personal loss.
Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Matthew 7:14 Isaiah 30:19  For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee.
20  And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers:
21  And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.

The other pathway seems to lead to an easy life with much personal gain.
(Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Matthew 7:13

The choice is ours which pathway we shall go.
Proverbs 4:14  ¶Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men.
15  Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.
16  For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.
17  For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.
18  But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
19  The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.

Many they are who will automatically chose the easy road.
Luke 12:19  And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
20  But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
21  So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

This is what Lot did when faced with the choice between the fertile green valleys or the dry higher ground.
Genesis 13:10  ¶And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.
11  Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.
12  Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom.
13  But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.

Abraham choose the more difficult choice.
Genesis 13:14  ¶And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward:
15 For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.
16 And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.
17 Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.

There is no reward in Heaven for living a life of ease.
For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Mark 8:36

Suffering brings much reward.
Matthew 5:10  Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11  Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

Jesus choose the way of suffering for us.
1 Peter 2:21  For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:
22  Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:
23  Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:
24  Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
25  For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.