Delayed Gratification
Have you ever seen the television commercial where there's a really big guy in a weight room at a gym, standing on scales, looking quite disappointed at how much he weighs? What does he do? He goes running around weight room once, and then comes back and steps on the scales again, hoping that it'll read differently this time.Then there's a similar commercial, where a woman is fixing a drink for her husband by dumping the ingredients into the food disposal system in order to blend it, because she doesn't have a blender.
In both of these commercials (plus several other similar ads) the voice over asks "Are you tired of waiting for your rewards?"
I chuckle when I see these ads, but at the same time, I can't help but think...this isn't really all that funny, because our society really is like that. We've lost the ability to be patient, to wait for our rewards. We've bought into the idea that anything that is worthwhile has to have an immediate return on our investment. We are unable to see the value of putting off the instant gratification, the instant reward, in favor of the delayed gratification.
James 5:7 says: Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains.
There's a valuable lesson for us in the growth cycle of plants in the Middle East (what James was familiar with when he wrote those words). Many crops are planted in the fall season, and are harvested in the spring (just the opposite of us!) For them, the winter is a dry, dry, dry season, and if you look at the crops, you would think "these things are practically dead...they're pale, ugly, and they aren't growing at all."
But what's really happening is, while you aren't seeing any visible growth, those plants are digging down deep. Every bit of growth they can muster is downward, down and down, as the roots stretch out hungrily seeking moisture.
The farmer who doesn't know and understand this will get discouraged, will perhaps even despair of ever getting crops from these plants. The foolish farmer might even go so far as to harvest his crops early, figuring little is better than nothing, and he might as well get what he can before the plants die altogether.
But the wise farmer knows that the spring rains are right around the corner, and something amazing will happen when the spring rains finally come...
Those plants which all winter long have looked scraggly and straggly and ugly and half-dead will - almost overnight - transform into the crops he has been hoping and waiting for all winter long. Then, and only then, he will harvest his crops.
Delayed gratification. To put off what you want now in favor of something better down the road.
I got an email last night from a friend who is struggling because he has made a decision which he believed - when he made the decision - was what God wanted him to do. But he hasn't seen any immediate return on his decision. All around him people are saying "I can see so clearly how God is at work in my life..." and he is thinking to himself, "Well, good for you, but I can't see what God is doing in my life..."
For each of us the spring rains and the dry seasons come at different times of our lives, and hearing how God is working in the lives of others during their "spring rain" seasons ought to help us through our own "dry seasons" - unfortunately it often works the other way around. Hearing how God is working in others' lives may serve to discourage us if we let ourselves long for the instant gratification.
Don't be discouraged by the dry seasons. Use the time to dig down deep. Put down roots that will keep you strong and rugged during the dryness, so your blossoming will be even more beautiful when the spring rains finally come to your life.
Posted On Sep 18, 2005 at 4:30 AM
On Sep 18, 2005 Mr. T wrote: I read this article this morning before church, and then made reference to it during the message. We were talking about this whole issue of instant gratification, and in particular the subtle way in which it infiltrates the church. Too often, the evangelistic message of the church, especially to people who are particularly depressed or struggling, is "Make yourself right with God - accept Christ, and he will make everything OK". We tend to preach a message of instant gratification. However, if one were to study much of the New Testament, you are far more likely to discover passages like "For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him" (Phil 1:29 NIV). Or how about "If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:" (2 Tim 2:12 KJV).
I do not find that scripture promises that "everything will get better" as far as this life is concerned when we believe in Christ. Rather, we are promised that sufferings will come, and that if we endure them, we will receive reward in the coming kingdom.
Our society, however, with our constant emphasis on instant gratification, makes this a message that most churches don't preach.
Just my two cents. . .
Doug Replied: There are also several verses in I Peter (which I'll be teaching in youth group this year) that go along with the same ideas as the verses you mentioned. Especially related to your Philippians and II Timothy verses is this:
I Peter 4:12-13
Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.
On Sep 18, 2005 BackStage wrote: It's interesting that you made this post this weekend. In my sermon this morning, I spoke about how the Church is an image of family (table fellowship, passing heritage to the next generation, celebrating new life, and remembering those who have passed on.)
As part of my sermon, I referenced this post about our great grandfather: Polio, The Great Depression, and Thickly Peeled Potatoes. In that post, you reference the greater discussion of short term satisfaction vs. long term benefits.
Glad to see you made it back around to this topic!
Doug Replied: Wow. I had fogotten all about the thickly peeled potatoes! I wish I'd remembered to use that at CGN this summer when I was teaching about delayed gratification! That's all right...I'll use it when I teach that with the youth group this year!
On Sep 21, 2005 Laura wrote: I loved that commercial about the guy trying to lose weight - especially when he bangs the scale thinking something is wrong with it when he doesn't lose any weight from his 2-second jog. And going along with the theme of weight loss, not only do people not want to wait for their rewards, they often injure themselves in the process by choosing to go a path that they think will give them something quicker than they'd get it otherwise. In nutrition class I learned that the human body just isn't designed to lose huge amounts of weight at once, and people have taken dangerous supplements and died from trying to get rid of in weeks what took them years to put on. I have such a hard time waiting too, but thanks for the reminder that God works on His time and not ours - in fact, that's probably something we should be glad of!
Doug Replied: I just love the spam I get all the time that tells people how to lose oodles of weight overnight.
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