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There is a moment in every person's life
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when they must choose between what they
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want now and what they could have later.
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And our culture has made it very clear
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which one it prefers. We are told that
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waiting is suffering. That delayed
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gratification is outdated. That the
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moment you desire something, the moment
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you feel something, that is the
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authoritative voice and it must be
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obeyed. This is presented as freedom.
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In reality, it is slavery. But the
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person who has learned to wait, truly
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learned it, understands something
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different. They understand that the gap
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between desire and action is not a
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punishment. It is a space of freedom. In
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that space, something happens. You get
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to choose, not your impulse. You, the
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actual you, the person beneath the
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feeling. This is where faith enters
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because what is faith really? It is the
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belief that God is ordering something
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better than what you can see right now.
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That the goal is worth the waiting. That
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you are not being denied. You are being
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directed toward something worth the
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delay. Joseph understood this. He could
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have taken Piper's wife when she offered
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herself. The desire was there. The
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opportunity was there. But something
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inside him said no. Not because he was
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afraid of punishment, but because he
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belonged to God. And in that moment of
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refusal, in that small discipline of
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waiting, something essential happened.
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His character was forged. His integrity
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was written into his bones. When you
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choose to wait for the right
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relationship, the right opportunity, the
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right moment, you are practicing faith.
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You are saying I believe there is an
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order to life that my immediate feeling
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cannot see. I am willing to be shaped by
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that order rather than by my impulse.
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This is not weakness. This is the
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deepest kind of strength. Delayed
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gratification is how you discover that
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you are not your appetites. You are
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something larger, something capable of
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saying no to the good in order to say
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yes to the better. That discovery that
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you are free is more satisfying than
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anything immediate could ever be.
