Daily Devotions
The Marshmallow Experiment
Reading for December 3rd: 1 Corinthians 15-16
Weekly reading for November 29-December 5: 1 John 1-5
And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
1 John 2:17
The "Marshmallow Experiment" was the idea of a Stanford professor named Walter Mischel in the 1960s. The experiment tested to see if young children (mostly 4 and 5 years old) could delay gratification. A child would sit down in a private room with a marshmallow placed on the table before him. Then a deal was made. The researcher would leave the room, promising the child that if he did not eat the marshmallow while he was away, he would be rewarded with a second marshmallow. However, if the child decided to eat the first one before he came back, then he would not get the second marshmallow. The choice was simple: one treat now or two treats later.
The researcher would leave the room for fifteen minutes. Some kids immediately ate the marshmallow. Others resisted for a while but eventually caved in. A few children managed to wait the entire time.
Mischel and his team of researchers conducted follow up studies years later. The children who delayed gratification ended up having higher SAT scores, lower levels of substance abuse, lower rates of obesity, better social skills, and generally better scores over a wide range of life skills. In fact, they followed up with these children for more than 40 years and the group that delayed gratification continued to succeed at a higher level than the other groups in whatever they measured.
This makes sense. If you delay gratification (eating unhealthy foods, playing games, napping all day, etc.) in favor of discipline and hard work, you're going to succeed in life.
Nowhere is this more true than in our spiritual life. Dozens (if not hundreds) of scriptures teach this principle. Again and again Jesus taught the value of giving up temporary happiness for an eternal reward (Mt 5:27-30; 6:2-4, 19-21; 19:16-21; Mk 8:34-38; Lk 12:13-21; 14:12-14; etc.)
So challenge yourself today to give up something that is temporal to make an investment in the eternal.
Father, help us to so trust in your promise of a better life with you in eternity that we will loosen our grip on the things of this world that tie us down.
