“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life…A desire accomplished is sweet to the soul, but it is an abomination to fools to depart from evil” (Proverbs 13:12, 19).
Delayed gratification is a challenging, yet great character-building, activity. Waiting is no one’s idea of fun. It can seem like an eternity. Yet, when the wait is over—when the engaged couple marry as virgins or the necessary amount for the down payment on a mortgage has been saved—the sense of successful accomplishment cannot be beaten. When that long awaited desire has finally been met by successive days and weeks of self-discipline and maturity, the soul is nourished with the most delicious of nutrients.
Obtaining something via delayed gratification tends to:
- Increase the likelihood of good stewardship. When something has been attained at great personal expense and sacrifice, the desire to take good care of it is keener.
- Increase one’s willingness and confidence to attack other daunting challenges. The initial success can be parlayed into additional successes.
A fool abhors delayed gratification for himself and his loved ones. He finds the allure of instant gratification and its many evils irresistible. Sadly, eternal destruction is where the path of instant gratification ends.
