Immediate Gratification, Long-Term Suffering
Genesis 2:15,17; 3:1,7
by Rev. Randy Quinn

During Lent this year, we will be exploring the lives of people who made changes in their lives; they traded one thing for another. I hope we will hear in their stories an invitation to make changes in our own. In fact, each sermon will end with an invitation to discipleship. By that, I mean to offer you an opportunity to change, to trade something in your life as we learn to walk more closely with Jesus.

Our story today is about the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, who unintentionally traded away paradise. I say unintentionally because as I have read their story, I’m not sure they understood what it was that was going to happen.

I know that when most people read this story they immediately make a leap from the story itself to the Christian doctrine of “original sin.” That sin, according to people like John Wesley was about unbelief that begot pride.1 He said it was pride that led Adam and Eve to seek their own will rather than God’s will. From the moment they made the choice to act on their own, they began to experience a separation from God. God’s glory departed and they became dead to God.

God told them they would die, but as far as we know nothing had died yet, so they wouldn’t have known what death was. They simply saw the fruit, thought it looked good, so they ate it.

What we hear in their story is the story of our lives, though, the story of our tendency to act on impulse, the tendency to seek immediate gratification without considering the cost.

Think about it. How many times in the past year have we heard the statistical evidence that as a nation we have become increasingly overweight? Obesity can be traced directly to our desire for immediate gratification. Fast food, snack food, processed food have all made it easy to grab something quick and easy -- and in the process our health is suffering.

Our entire financial system has also been compromised by a desire for short-term gains, even if it yields long term losses. Quarterly earnings reports rather than annual reports, for example, and daily reporting of stock market values put enormous pressure on business leaders to make short-term decisions, to act on impulse as they respond to the daily news rather than sound business practices.

Or think about the economic crisis that began a couple of years ago, something that we may or may not be working our way out of today. There were people who were borrowing beyond their budget. They wanted to have the biggest house and the most expensive car and the fastest boat -- and they wanted it now. So they borrowed on the future to have their immediate desires met. But it was built on a house of cards that came tumbling down.

You can even argue that the growing national debt is a result of our desire for immediate gratification. Every representative and every senator was looking for re-election by finding a program for their own constituents, not the well-being of our nation.

And while it’s easy to point at “them,” the people who act on impulse, the reality is that we’re no different. Each of us, in our own ways, has been tempted to act on impulse. None of us are exempt.

It’s as if we’re learning the lesson of the Garden of Eden all over again.

Adam and Eve ate the fruit and paid the price. And generations later we continue to do the same thing. We find our own fruit that looks good, so we eat, and we pay the price.

Years ago, I heard about a study on what is called “Emotional Intelligence.” As I remember the study, they brought four and five year olds into a room with a table and chair in it. On the table was a marshmallow on a plate. The children were told they could eat the marshmallow, but if they waited until the adult returned they could have two marshmallows.

The adult then left the room while the children were watched through a one way mirror.

Some couldn’t wait until the door was closed to eat. Others sat on their hands and worked hard at resisting it. Some licked the marshmallow but didn’t eat it. One boy took a teeny tiny bite but left the rest. One girl turned her chair around so she couldn’t see the marshmallow.

What is most amazing about the study is how the children who were able to wait became the ones who graduated highest in their classes twelve and thirteen years later. They were the ones who had learned to delay their gratification for a larger reward.

I don’t know how you teach that, but I think the study provides a powerful reminder for us to learn to wait. It’s part of what I hope to learn or gain from fasting during Lent. In some ways, fasting is nothing more than practicing delayed gratification.

It’s also what Jesus does in the wilderness when Satan tempts him.
Rather than bowing down to Satan, he waits until he is raised from the dead to have the world see who he is (Mt. 4:8,10).
Rather than turning stones into bread to feed himself, he waits until there is a hungry crowd before he feeds them with just a few loaves and fish (Mt. 4:2,3).
Rather than tempting God, Jesus waits for God to act when he is on the cross, even if it means God’s response will take place three days later (Mt. 4:5,7).

Delayed gratification is also what the people who work hard at saving and investing have learned. There are very few people who will “get rich quick.” But everyone who sets aside money now, who lives on less than they earn, will have wealth later. Over the long term, they learn that there are incredible riches to be gained.


It is what has been referred to as the law of the harvest. You can’t rush the corn out of the field and into the grain bin. You have to wait for it to grow before you can harvest it. And you can’t harvest it until it’s ready, either. The things God has created take time to mature.

Or as I used to say a lot, if it’s worth having, it’s worth waiting for.

We all fall into the temptation of seeking immediate gratification, though. The only way to avoid it is to have a clear sense of our purpose, a well-articulated set of values and principles.

You see, every time we make a choice, it is a decision. It’s either done intentionally or unintentionally. And often the choice before us involves trading something. Adam and Eve’s trade may not have been intentional, but the consequences of their trade were eternal.

They traded God’s love for their own pleasure.

I believe we can make a different choice than they did. I believe we can choose to seek and do God’s will. I believe we can find joy in living a life of faithfulness and in the process, I believe we can bring joy to God.

One of the things I think we do not hear often enough in our text today is the gracious gifts that God has given to us2. Adam is given the garden in which to live, he is given a task or a purpose in the garden, he is given permission to eat the fruit of his labors, and he was given a boundary in which to live (Gen. 2:15,17). The serpent framed the question in a way that suggested there was no gift, only a warning. And too often, the “warning” is all we hear (Gen. 3:1, 4,5).

But that isn’t the whole truth, and we have not allowed ourselves to hear the whole truth. Instead we have traded away the gifts of vocation and freedom to hear only the story of sin and punishment.

Today, I want to suggest there are good things God gave us. These gifts are to be kept in balance with the limitations God has set, including the limitation of time. Some things we have to wait for. We can make choices based on God’s goodness, God’s grace, God’s love, God’s timing. And in doing so, we will find joy in abundance.

Thanks be to God. Amen.
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Invitation to Discipleship:

As I said earlier, each week during Lent, I will provide an opportunity to respond to the sermon. In the bulletin, it is listed as an “Invitation to Discipleship.” Today’s is an invitation to do some individual soul searching, to practices the spiritual discipline of self-examination and silent prayer.

In silence, I invite you to ask yourself the question of where and when you have sought immediate gratification rather than allowing God to bring you joy. Use this time to listen for God to speak about changes that may need to be made in your life.

During Lent, perhaps, you could try an experiment and change one part of your life. What is one thing you could trade in an effort to more accurately align your life with the will of God?