A running joke for the past several years in our staff has been, “I’d eat the marshmallow.” It started when one of us read about a study that was conducted years ago by putting children in a room with a single marshmallow on a plate. They were then told that they could either eat the marshmallow …or…if they could sit and wait for x number of minutes, they would be rewarded with a 2nd marshmallow. The study was to show a correlation between patience and success.
It makes me think of how Esau, after a long day of hunting, was hungry and asked his brother, Jacob, for some soup. Jacob made him an offer. Esau could have some soup IF he would give up his birthright as the firstborn. Esau agreed. All I can say is…I hope that was some good soup.
Our enemy is crafty. He is willing to give us moments of pleasure. But, in exchange, we give up our purpose. In any kind of economy…a moment of pleasure is never worth a lifetime of purpose. I guarantee the enemy will never give you more than God has in store.
Don’t eat the marshmallow.
Makes me think of that Steven Curtis Chapman song about eating candy while sitting at a gourmet meal…