Do we want instant gratification or do we want to save money? I looked up gratification and the definition was “pleasure, especially when gained from the satisfaction of a desire.” Instant means, “happening or coming immediately.”

A simple way to define instant gratification is to give you an illustration. You’re out shopping and it is getting past lunch time. You drive by a fast food restaurant and imediately you are starved. So at the next fast food you pull in and get whatever you are hungry for. That is instant gratification. You wanted food now even though you could have waited until you got home.

Is instant gratification always wrong? No, sometimes it can be a special time with your children that you didn’t plan on. But what if you repeat that over and over? Your one time fast food lunch becomes a weekly or daily occurrence, that quick coffee is a daily routine, your children expect to eat out on every shopping trip, and quick expensive snacks are bought every time you shop.

Gratification is a wonderful thing especially if it is a vacation that you have long dreamed of. So how do I know if it is instant gratification or just gratification? The question I always ask myself is;”Will I be sorry that I didn’t spend that money or get that thing one week from now?” Or am I glad that I saved my money for something more important.

A friend of mine was groaning about how her and her husband had to spend an extra amount of money last minute to get seats together on a flight. I reminded her that that was a special trip for the two of them and years later they would not remember the money they had spent to be together. But had they not spent it they may well have remembered that that was the trip where they could not be together on a long flight.

I think it is important that we teach our children that we don’t just buy every thing we want even if we can afford it. They will think that is a way of life and then we wonder why they can never save any money.

God expects us to be good stewards of our money. So this week will I need instant gratification versus saving money or will I pass up that 4.00 coffee and have more to share with others?