Delays Delays Delays

Mike Hosey, An Elder

The other day Joshua and I were in the mall perusing a local video game store.  He had brought with him an old game cartridge that he had mastered, and so no longer wanted.  He had learned some time ago from his older brother that the game store offered cash for such items, and so he was there on that day to trade it in.  They gave him a few bucks for the old game, and when he began to examine the shelves, he realized that he wouldn't have enough money to buy a new one. Instead of saving the cash, his first impulse was to spend it on something else.  He chose a pack of popular baseball style cards that depicted characters from a video game series and t.v. show. As his father, I took the time to point out to him the lack of value in those cards relative to the store's price for them, as well as relative to how much he'd have left over after the purchase. It was his money, so I didn't want to heavy handedly place a spending restriction on it.  I suggested to him that he could save the money and get something of much greater value down the road.  Thankfully, he accepted that advice (that day).

Unfortunately we humans don't always accept that advice. Rather, we tend to pursue immediate pleasure over discipline, wisdom, and self sacrifice.  It's almost as if we are programmed to subconsciously (and unwisely) apply the maxim that a bird in the hand is better than two in the bush to every situation.

The end result can sometimes be quite extreme.  Consider the story of Jacob and Esau (Genesis 25:29-34).  Esau, being very hungry sells his birthright for a bowl of soup! The bible says that because of this he despised his birthright.  Because he wanted something in the moment, he gave up all of those things that were due him as a firstborn male. He had no discipline for delayed gratification.

The bible frequently encourages delayed gratification. In fact, a predominant theme in the bible is suffer a little now, and gain very great reward later. In a world that tells us to "just do it," and to "obey our thirst," and to buy now and pay later, it is imperative that we teach our children (as well as the people we influence) the rewards of delayed gratification,  and not to despise  those things that are of greater value.  And above all, we should teach them that momentary pleasures are momentary, but our relationship with Jesus is eternal joy.