Acting on impulse …

You’re about to check out at your local grocery store, or perhaps a “big box” store like Target or Walmart … what are some of the things you see stocked around you before you reach the register?

Candy. Chewing gum. Magazines. Razors. Perhaps a toy. Gift cards. And so on …

Surrounding you will be a selection of items placed there by store personnel with the hopes you’ll make an “impulse” purchase.

To “act on impulse” is to take action with little conscious thought or consideration about that action. Retail gurus have learned that many people are willing to make an “impulse purchase” if properly tempted, so they teach their clients to boost their sales by baiting the customers to make impulse buys. Kali Hawlk writes the following in an article titled, “How to use your checkout counter to make more sales” for Shopify:

The checkout counter around your point-of-sale system is the ideal place to stock merchandise most often bought on an impulse. Shoppers make impulse buys for a number of reasons, including not fully understanding the consequences of their actions (like not realizing all the impulse purchases throughout the month add up to a significant amount).

Or they may understand the consequences of following impulsive shopping urges. But they act on them anyway, because their immediate happiness and pleasure derived from picking up something new and novel outweighs the thought of a consequence sometime in the future.

They’ve approached the checkout counter to make a purchase, so they already made the decision to spend. And humans like to stay consistent with their commitments.

Therefore, it’s easier to subtly suggest making small, impulse purchases once a shopper stands at a checkout counter ready to make a purchase. And the numbers back that up: 40% of people admit to spending more money than they planned when shopping in stores.

We’re not just impulsive while standing in a line to check out at a store, we’re impulsive in most areas of our lives. That’s because most of us do not build into our daily lives time just to think; instead, we’ve developed a habit of acting impulsively.

Can you think of some reasons why that may not be a very good idea?

Certainly the judgment we use to make an impulse purchase (“act impulsively”) is not as sound as judgment used for a decision we’ve given conscious thought and consideration to.

That’s why yesterday a simple sentence from a social media post by pastor and author, Dr. David Jermiah, jumped out at me. The single-line message was this:

“Let God’s wisdom be your impulse.” – Dr. David Jeremiah.

First, imagine how much better judgment you would exercise if you gave more of your actions some considered, rational thought — perhaps even prayer! — before making a decision or acting.

Now let’s take that further. Imagine if you have matured as a disciple of Jesus through daily, persistent study of the Bible and time talking with God (prayer) that the Word of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit influence your thinking both consciously and unconsciously. How do you think that would impact the quality of the judgment you exercise? The decisions you make? The actions you choose to take?

Is it no wonder, then, that the apostle Paul admonishes us to think like Jesus, not just in the checkout line, but in more important matters such as our relationships? Paul knew when we act impulsively, we”ll set ourselves on a fast track to sin; but if we think, and then act, like Jesus, we will choose what is holy, what is best for others, and what glorifies God. Paul wrote:

“But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others. For, ‘Who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him?’ But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ,” 1 Corinthians 2:14-16.

“Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had,” Philippians 2:3-5.

If we’re going to “have the mind of Christ,” we’ll have to make time to fill it with the Word of God, and to meditate on it. We’ll need to make time to think about how to live out what we learn from scripture. And the result of this process of discipleship is learning how to make the wisdom of God our impulse — to be so shaped and formed by the Word of God, by the work of the Holy Spirit, that our impulse thinking, decision-making, and actions are rooted in the wisdom of God rather than an ocean of irrational, impulsive thoughts.

That, my friends, is life-transforming!

When you act on impulse, what are those actions rooted in?

Scotty