The Marshmallow Test: an illustration of temptation and the hope in future rewards

By Elizabeth Prata

Do you wrestle with temptation? Is delayed gratification a struggle? Of course you do. I do. We all do. Here is a video that may be worth 3 minutes of your time.

Did you notice the various ways the different children handled this temptation?
Some smelled the marshmallow and put it back down.
Some licked the marshmallow and put it back down.
Some took a small nibble with their teeth or pinched a small bit off with their fingers.
Some just gobbled it up.

Onw boy turned his body and hid his face in his arms so he would not see the marshmallow. This is the correct way to withstand temptation. Flee it!

The children who waited and received double the treat were praised when the adult saw that they had waited.

But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; (Matthew 6:20).

As Christians, we are instructed to “flee immorality” as 1 Corinthians 6:18 says. We are also to “flee from youthful lusts” (2 Timothy 2:22). Joseph is given as an example, who ran out from the adulterous advances of his master Potiphar’s wife (Genesis 39:12). Escape from, or even better, do not put yourselves in tempting circumstances, places, and people.

Resist that sin. Slay that temptation. Puritan John Owen said, “Temptation is like a knife, that may either cut the meat or the throat of a man; it may be his food or his poison, his exercise or his destruction.”

We are already patiently waiting for the universe’s biggest gratification of all, seeing Jesus. We can kill those smaller temptations in order that when we DO face Him, he will say “Well done, good and faithful servant”. Kill the temptation so it does not lead to sin. And wait to hear the praise from the One who is holy and perfect.