Intelligent Patience

2 Peter 3:9
“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

A recently released study on patience and reward echoes what the Bible has to say about patience, reward and temptation.

The study involved four-year-old children, and the researchers offered them cookies as the reward. The children were offered a choice of either a couple of cookies immediately or, if they were prepared to wait 15 minutes, they could have five pretzels, which was the much larger treat. They were allowed to see the treats beforehand and were told that they could sound a buzzer at any time and receive the smaller treat. After the study, researchers examined how well the various children did in school for the next 10 years. Their conclusions were that those children who waited patiently for the larger treat as four-year-olds also did better in school than the children who could not wait. They also found that talking about the treats during the 15-minute waiting period caused more of the children to give in to temptation and abandon patience. Researchers suggested that teaching children self-control will help them in school and in their social relationships later in life. 

These findings are exactly in line with what the Bible teaches about patience, finding its reward, and the caution to flee from the opportunity for temptation.

Notes: Bruce Bower. “Preschool Self-Control and Pretzel Logic.” Science News, May 27, 1989, p. 325.
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