Delayed gratification is a disappearing concept and with it the art of self-discipline. Yet, the ability to delay gratification is an essential component of any responsible life. “Gratification” simply means that you have satisfied your desires.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, psychologist Walter Mischel led some experiments at Stanford University in which he offered preschool children the option of one reward immediately or two in approximately fifteen minutes. The study showed that the children who could wait for their cookie or marshmallow had better peer relationships, academic achievement, and life outcomes all the way into adulthood.

There are three things that delayed gratification enables you to do:

• It enables you to set goals and work toward them. Many tasks in life require the ability to stay the course by working incrementally toward something.
• It enables you to control your emotions because you have the ability to think before acting and make the right choice.
• It enables you to say no to sin because you have the ability to curb your desires and choose how to respond to temptation.

There isn’t any reason to deny yourself things just to prove a point. God has given us the ability to enjoy life through our senses. It is simply learning from a young age that it is important to think before acting and assess whether or not it is in your long-term interest to do what you are thinking of doing. It is being able to recognize the pros and cons of any choice and how it will affect your relationship with God, yourself, and others. It is being able to make right judgments about every opportunity that comes your way. It is being able to discipline yourself in the moment for something better in the future. It is taking control of your life by mastering your desires and impulses.

If you recognize that you don’t have the ability to delay gratification, start small. The next time you have an opportunity to use self-discipline to control your immediate desires for what is better for you in the long term, just do it—one situation at a time.

By Karla Downing

Relationship Devotional Prayer

 
God,

Give me the ability to delay gratification when I need to for my long-term best interest.

Relationship Devotional Challenge

• Pay attention to your desires. Do what is in your long-term best interest rather than what you want to do in the moment.

Scripture Meditation

 
Romans 13:14

“Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh” (NIV).

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize” (NIV).