Immediate gratification is one of Satan’s most effective weapons. This desire for the immediate is based on two lies. The first is that having what I want will be satisfying and the second is nothing bad will happen if I get what I want. This is one way sin works in the lives of your children.
If your children believe the lie that getting instant relief from their discomfort or discontent is ultimate, then they are bound by the power of sin. This pattern, if not stopped, will result in a life dominated by the desire for immediate gratification.
When you hear your child whine, you are hearing a child who has been deceived into thinking that life will be better if he gets what he wants right now. If you put up with whining you are helping him to continue in slavery to the deceitfulness of sin.
Immediate gratification is the gateway to a life of slavery. Understanding this will help you teach your children to see how sin deceives them. Sin feeds on the desire for immediate results. That is why a child can go from seeming bliss to outrage in an eye blink. One moment everything is fine. Then he sees his brother with a toy that he wants and he immediately erupts with a howl that sounds like he is being tortured.It is not natural for him to think first that he is happy his brother has a nice toy to play with. It is natural for him to think why should my brother have a toy that I want. Another example is when your daughter says, “Mommy, I want juice.” Your response of, “Just a minute and I will get you some,” is met with a pathetic cry. Your child may die of thirst if you don’t get her the drink right now! This is sin at work
Teaching your children that sin masquerades as instant gratification is an important first step to helping them see how sin lies to them. Any time your children think that they must have something now—they are probably being deceived by sin.
This deception can and does lead to a life of slavery to the immediate. Pornography, substance abuse, abusive behavior, all have their roots in the quest for immediate gratification. The fruit of the Spirit is best grown in the soil of self-denial. Help your children to see the excellent path of putting God first.
2 thoughts on “The tyranny of the immediate”
Thank you SO MUCH for posting this! The timing is very poignant as I am reading a book with a group of women and one of the authors says that teaching our children first time obedience is a lie of the enemy. This concerned me very much as we( my husband & I ) can see the principle of first time obedience all through scripture. I will be sharing this post with our group this week. May The Lord be glorified.
I completely agree with you. We teach our children immediate obedience (no counting, no delayed response, immediate). People think we are too strict, weird, whatever. I can tell you, that when it has truly mattered (safety reasons), 3 of my 4 children immediately comply (our 3rd we have some pretty serious heart issues we are working on with which are exacerbated by his asperger’s and reactive attachment disorder).
Honestly, we believe that even within “christian culture”, most live inside a ‘box’ of what they ‘think’ is ‘normal’. Way too many do not pursue God’s word on the subject and many are just too concerned about being seen as “too.. whatever”. People don’t want to be criticized or ostracized. I fully understand that feeling, I don’t want it either, but God warned us in His word that we WOULD be despised. It’s amazing what we as BELIEVERS try to push on other believers about “how” to live and how much of that is learned from secular, not from God’s Word.