I am currently reading, “The Triple Package: How Three Unlikely Traits Explain the Rise and Fall of Cultural Groups in America” by Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld. The book has offered some interesting insights into how and why different groups have achieved success. Most of the book is about conventional success such as money, education, and rising cultural status. While there are some applications to us as Christians in this material, there is one section that is especially pertinent to us as members of the Church of God.
“Led by social and developmental psychologists . . . a large and growing body of research has demonstrated that the capacity to resist temptation to quit when a task is arduous, daunting, or beyond one’s immediate abilities—is critical to achievement. This capacity to resist temptation is exactly what we mean by impulse control, and the remarkable finding is that greater impulse control in early childhood translates into much better outcomes across a wide variety of domains (Chua and Rubenfeld, p. 117).
This finding was first stumbled upon by Stanford psychologist Walter Mischel in his famous “marshmallow test”. He was trying to determine how children learn to resist temptation. His test placed marshmallows in front of three- to five-year-olds. The children were told that if they waited a few minutes they would receive a second treat. Children who held out for fifteen minutes received a second marshmallow.
The result? A majority of the children ate up and only a minority resisted temptation.
The great surprise was discovered later on when Mischel decided to follow up on the 650 children used in the test when they were in high school. “It turned out that the children who had held out were doing much better academically with fewer social problems that those who hadn’t” (Chua and Rubenfeld, p. 118).
In a New Zealand study tracking over 1000 individuals from birth to age thirty two, Mischel’s findings were further confirmed. “. . . the study found that individuals with low impulse control as children were significantly more likely to develop problems with drugs, alcohol, and obesity; to work in low-paying jobs; to have a sexually transmitted disease; and to end up in prison. Those with high impulse control were healthier, more affluent, and more likely to have a stable marriage, raising children in a two-parent household” (Chua and Rubenfeld, p. 118).
There is one additional finding of note in these experiments and findings. “Willpower and perseverance can be strengthened. That’s where culture comes in. Cultivating impulse control in children—indeed in anyone, at any age—is a powerful lever of success” (Chua and Rubenfeld, p. 119).
Does this have any translation to our lives as a Christians?
We only have to turn to Genesis 2 and 3 for the answer. Did God’s first two children display impulse control? It’s as if God put Adam and Eve in the Garden and said, “Don’t eat of the marshmallow and you’ll get a treat later.” Sadly, like most of the children in the “marshmallow test”, they ate of the forbidden fruit, were expelled from the Garden, and have the penalty of death hanging over their heads.
Were their progeny any more successful in delaying gratification than first two people created by God? Sadly, few of those who came along later followed God. The ultimate outcome of a lack of impulse control is brought out in Genesis 6:5-6, “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.” Human history is a chronicle of man being unwilling to wait for gratification of his desires. The outcome has been disastrous.
As Christians, God wants us to be yielded to God’s Holy Spirit and guided by God’s word so that God can create in us His character. He wants us to resist our carnal desires. The outcome of our denying our carnal impulses, not giving in to temptation, is to be readied for a treat of much greater and lasting value than a marshmallow that treat being eternal life in the family of God.
Happy Sabbath!
Gary Smith
Friday, February 26, 2016
Friday, February 19, 2016
Tomorrow Is Promised To No Man. Are You In Right Standing With God?
Death can come so suddenly and without warning. This reality offers us something to consider about God and life.
When we are young we tend to view death as something that is a long way off. It is something that afflicts the older generation, not the young and vibrant. Sometimes we can live our lives as if death isn’t even on the radar. The Apostle James brings out this point in James 4:13-15, “Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit"; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that."
James is addressing a prideful approach that we can take as we plan without God in the picture. It is as if we are the masters of life and God does not exist. To those being addressed money is much more important than serving God. They make plans for the future without seeking the will of God. They live like the man portrayed in the parable of the rich fool (Luke 12:16-21). They fail to realize that they cannot add even a minute to their life. They are completely dependent on God.
We don’t even know what will happen tomorrow, and our lives are like vapor that vanishes quickly. If we have no idea what the immediate future holds nor are we able to control it, what is the purpose of life? We must live by Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man's all for God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.”
Those James addresses have not asked about the meaning and duration of life. They talk about the future with absolute certainty. Yet they have no control over it. They live their life but fail to inquire into its purpose. They are blind and ignorant.
What should our approach be? “Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.”” God is to be sovereign in our lives. In all our planning, deeds, and accomplishments we must acknowledge our submission to God.
We don’t know for certain whether our lives will be long, short or somewhere in the middle. But we do know that God is sovereign and we are to acknowledge him in how we live each day. As we live in submission to God’s will then it doesn’t matter whether life is long or short. We are in right standing with God no matter the outcome.
Have a pleasant Sabbath,
Gary Smith
When we are young we tend to view death as something that is a long way off. It is something that afflicts the older generation, not the young and vibrant. Sometimes we can live our lives as if death isn’t even on the radar. The Apostle James brings out this point in James 4:13-15, “Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit"; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that."
James is addressing a prideful approach that we can take as we plan without God in the picture. It is as if we are the masters of life and God does not exist. To those being addressed money is much more important than serving God. They make plans for the future without seeking the will of God. They live like the man portrayed in the parable of the rich fool (Luke 12:16-21). They fail to realize that they cannot add even a minute to their life. They are completely dependent on God.
We don’t even know what will happen tomorrow, and our lives are like vapor that vanishes quickly. If we have no idea what the immediate future holds nor are we able to control it, what is the purpose of life? We must live by Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man's all for God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.”
Those James addresses have not asked about the meaning and duration of life. They talk about the future with absolute certainty. Yet they have no control over it. They live their life but fail to inquire into its purpose. They are blind and ignorant.
What should our approach be? “Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.”” God is to be sovereign in our lives. In all our planning, deeds, and accomplishments we must acknowledge our submission to God.
We don’t know for certain whether our lives will be long, short or somewhere in the middle. But we do know that God is sovereign and we are to acknowledge him in how we live each day. As we live in submission to God’s will then it doesn’t matter whether life is long or short. We are in right standing with God no matter the outcome.
Have a pleasant Sabbath,
Gary Smith
Friday, February 12, 2016
Doritos Stirs Up Debate With Super Bowl Commercial
One of the Super Bowl commercials and the reaction is the stimulus for this week’s Sabbath Thought.
The ad was promoting Doritos. “The ad portrays a lively unborn baby on an ultrasound screen reacting with enthusiasm to the Dorito-munching expectant Dad’s packet of snacks. Each time the husband moves a chip towards his wife’s belly and the baby on the screen makes a lunge for it. When the annoyed Mom throws a chip across the room the baby, to everyone’s consternation, decides to make an early arrival” (CNS News—http://cnsnews.com, 2/8/2016).
NARAL Pro-Choice America responded to the ad with the following Tweet, #NotBuyingit-that@Doritos ad using #antichoice tactic of humanizing fetuses . . . .” Only in 21st century America could we have someone outraged by “humanizing” a fetus. Honestly, what other way should we look at a baby in the womb? It is a potential human being with fingers, toes, hands, and all of the other important parts that make up a baby. Amazingly, the baby moves and every time it moves a mother knows she has a living being in her womb.
We might ask, “Does God like babies?” Consider Genesis 1: 27-28, “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." Amazing, God instructed mankind to be fruitful and multiply. In fact, God’s directive was to “fill the earth.” We can clearly see that from the beginning of human existence, God wanted many children to be born.
As one considers the Bible as a whole, in what chapter and verse do we find any parents who don’t want children? Abraham and Sarah were desperate to have a child. In fact, they believed God would give them a child, but they didn’t know the exact timing. So they took matters into their own hands and Ishmael was born. Ishmael was not the promised child. The couple was most joyful when the son of promise, Isaac, arrived.
In 1 Samuel 1, we learn of Elkanah who had two wives. One wife had children, but the other wife, Hannah, had no children. We learn that God has closed Hannah’s womb. The outcome of this situation, “And her rival also provoked her severely, to make her miserable, because the Lord had closed her womb. So it was, year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, that she provoked her; therefore she wept and did not eat” (1 Samuel 1:6-7). Ultimately, Hannah went up to Shiloh and petitioned God to give her a child. God heard her prayer and blessed her with a son, Samuel.
From Genesis to Revelation, we find women having children and we never find them bemoaning their pregnancies and births. In fact, the Bible takes a most positive view of children, “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed, but shall speak with their enemies in the gate (Psalms 127:3-5).
The ad was meant to be funny, but sadly there is a significant element of American society which fails to see the humor. More importantly, they refuse to accept the fact that a baby in the womb is not just a glob of unfeeling tissue. A fetus is a living being awaiting the time when it will burst forth into this world hopefully into the waiting arms of proud parents.
All we can do at this time is enjoy our children and grandchildren realizing that each one of them is a potential son of God. We look forward to that time when all mankind will come to understand the incredible human potential of each child.
Have a pleasant Sabbath,
Gary Smith
The ad was promoting Doritos. “The ad portrays a lively unborn baby on an ultrasound screen reacting with enthusiasm to the Dorito-munching expectant Dad’s packet of snacks. Each time the husband moves a chip towards his wife’s belly and the baby on the screen makes a lunge for it. When the annoyed Mom throws a chip across the room the baby, to everyone’s consternation, decides to make an early arrival” (CNS News—http://cnsnews.com, 2/8/2016).
NARAL Pro-Choice America responded to the ad with the following Tweet, #NotBuyingit-that@Doritos ad using #antichoice tactic of humanizing fetuses . . . .” Only in 21st century America could we have someone outraged by “humanizing” a fetus. Honestly, what other way should we look at a baby in the womb? It is a potential human being with fingers, toes, hands, and all of the other important parts that make up a baby. Amazingly, the baby moves and every time it moves a mother knows she has a living being in her womb.
We might ask, “Does God like babies?” Consider Genesis 1: 27-28, “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." Amazing, God instructed mankind to be fruitful and multiply. In fact, God’s directive was to “fill the earth.” We can clearly see that from the beginning of human existence, God wanted many children to be born.
As one considers the Bible as a whole, in what chapter and verse do we find any parents who don’t want children? Abraham and Sarah were desperate to have a child. In fact, they believed God would give them a child, but they didn’t know the exact timing. So they took matters into their own hands and Ishmael was born. Ishmael was not the promised child. The couple was most joyful when the son of promise, Isaac, arrived.
In 1 Samuel 1, we learn of Elkanah who had two wives. One wife had children, but the other wife, Hannah, had no children. We learn that God has closed Hannah’s womb. The outcome of this situation, “And her rival also provoked her severely, to make her miserable, because the Lord had closed her womb. So it was, year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, that she provoked her; therefore she wept and did not eat” (1 Samuel 1:6-7). Ultimately, Hannah went up to Shiloh and petitioned God to give her a child. God heard her prayer and blessed her with a son, Samuel.
From Genesis to Revelation, we find women having children and we never find them bemoaning their pregnancies and births. In fact, the Bible takes a most positive view of children, “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed, but shall speak with their enemies in the gate (Psalms 127:3-5).
The ad was meant to be funny, but sadly there is a significant element of American society which fails to see the humor. More importantly, they refuse to accept the fact that a baby in the womb is not just a glob of unfeeling tissue. A fetus is a living being awaiting the time when it will burst forth into this world hopefully into the waiting arms of proud parents.
All we can do at this time is enjoy our children and grandchildren realizing that each one of them is a potential son of God. We look forward to that time when all mankind will come to understand the incredible human potential of each child.
Have a pleasant Sabbath,
Gary Smith
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