Delay Not Denial

Psa. 94:¹² “Joyful are those you discipline, Lord, those you teach with your instructions.”

Discipline is making advance decisions to delay gratification as long as necessary to achieve the results you most desire. The challenge is that the world clamours for instant gratification and easy solutions. It drives this agenda with statements like; if it is within your reach then just take it, just do it nobody will know after all everybody is doing it, it is your life just do it, just spend the money, you can do whatever you want, just do it. You will discover that you are the only one doing it. The same devil that is telling you everybody is doing it, after you have done it, will say you are the only one that is doing it.

And because the world clamours for instant gratification and easy solutions, the world really struggles with the life of discipline. Whereas a life of character, a life of discipline has learnt to delay gratification. The truth is that you will never build a walk with God, you cannot build a strong marriage, you cannot build a fit body, and you cannot build a robust bank account by obeying the world’s law of instant gratification. You will never build a strong walk with God if you do not know how to delay gratification.

For some people, their stomach is their god – they cannot delay gratification. To go one day without food because of a fast is unthinkable. By nine o’clock in the morning, you find them complaining and claiming that life is leaving them. You will not die, you are just hungry, and there is a difference between hunger and death. No one is gifted to fast. Check the Bible, Genesis to Revelation – there is no gift of fasting. Everybody must learn to deny himself and delay gratification. This is what you have to do if you want to build a solid walk with God.

If you want to build a strong marriage, you have to learn to delay gratification. If you want to build a fit body you have to hit the gym, you have to start that diet, you have to delay gratification. Interestingly, because the world clamours for instant gratification, a lot of industries are also now building million dollar industries from selling instant solutions to food, weight loss, making money. Discipline is delaying gratification.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, teach me to delay gratification so that my work, my walk with You, my relationships will be strong, in Jesus Name. Amen!