The IKEA Effect

I have a complicated relationship with IKEA.

I love how affordable their products are and they’re maddening to assemble. I’m fairly handy and not particularly prone to anger, but I have more than once yelled at the instruction manual for being unnecessarily convoluted. If you’ve ever purchased an IKEA product, you can probably relate.

Psychological research has actually demonstrated a cognitive bias that has been coined “The IKEA Effect” based on this complex relationship consumers have with IKEA products.

According to a Harvard-based study, the IKEA effect basically says that we tend to place a higher value on that which we create (be it assembling a piece of IKEA furniture, folding origami, or completing a Lego set – all examples of which were studied in this research).

This makes sense to me.

I feel a sense of ownership when I create or make or even just assemble something.

The problem, though, is that I so often feel ownership over things I need to let go. I think that because I gave it time or attention or energy I need to care about and invest in it forever.

The truth is that I’ve spent a lot of time on things that ran their course and needed to be handed over to another. I’m no longer the right person to “own” it. It was the right investment for a season but it’s not the right investment now.

I’ve also spent a lot of time on things that were never worth my time, attention, or energy, and just needed to die.

Here’s the point.

Just because you labored on something doesn’t mean it’s worth loving.

It might be.

But it might not be.

Don’t succumb to the IKEA effect. Don’t convince yourself that a relatively cheap piece of furniture is more value because you dedicated a disproportionate amount of time to assembling it.

Don’t hold onto something just because you’ve given it your time, attention, and energy. It may be time to let go.

Shine

When Thomas Edison invented the light bulb in 1879, he had a particular purpose in mind. Namely, the light bulb was created to emit light. It was wired to work a certain way and perform a certain task. To use it for purposes other than that for which it was created would result in disaster.

Baseball, for instance.

Have you ever tried to play baseball with a light bulb? Me neither. That’s because we know it would end badly. The light bulb would break and no longer be able to provide light as it was intended.

Imagine that you decided to go ahead and try it anyway. Chances are, it would take about one pitch for the light bulb to shatter to pieces.

Now imagine someone came along, got down on his hands and knees in the dirt, and began putting the light bulb back together. Imagine that when he was finished, after hours of diligent labor, the light bulb not only worked again, but shone even brighter than before. Would you ever play baseball with a light bulb again? Of course not. Lesson learned.

The truth, though, is that we play baseball with light bulbs every day.

God wired us to work a certain way. He created us for a particular purpose – namely, to represent and reflect His heart and character every moment of our lives.

Sin willfully and purposefully goes against what God originally intended for our lives.

It’s like playing baseball with a lightbulb.

Our sin shatters us.

But on the cross, Jesus put the pieces back together.

He restored us to our original condition, able to once again represent and reflect the God who made us, to once again shine as we were meant to shine.

Let’s stop working against our design and begin working with and for our Creator.

He knows far better than we what He intended when He made us.

A Land Called Nothing

Just off Route 93, situated in the Arizona desert that separates Phoenix and Las Vegas, is a six-acre land called Nothing. Nothing is, appropriately, a ghost town.

Established in 1977, Nothing for years struggled to gain traction. Alas, with no running water, much less a sewer system, and no electricity, Nothing seemed to prophesy its own demise.

In the decades that have passed since the citizens of Nothing finally abandoned their fated town, many have come and tried to make something out of Nothing. But attempts to bring the dead town to life have inevitably failed. A sign that once greeted visitors still stands. It reads, "The staunch citizens of Nothing are full of hope, faith and believe in the work ethic. Thru the years, these dedicated people had faith in Nothing, hoped for Nothing, worked at Nothing, for Nothing."

You've got to admire the honesty.

If you were being honest, what would you say is the object of your faith, the essence of your hope, the reason for your work? If the answer is anything other than Jesus, it is as good as Nothing.

You see, it was Jesus that spoke everything into being out of a vast nothing. Imagine what He could do with your life. Imagine what He could do with mine. Let us leave behind this land called Nothing. There is a great adventure awaiting in a land called Promise.