All We Need part 3
The Rolling Stones said it like this, "You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you just might find you get what you need." Sometimes I think we really confuse those two terms: Wants and needs. And the unfortunate part is when we miss out on what we need because we're focused on what we want. Or rather, what we think we want. See, I'm convinced that the desire of man's heart is be loved and accepted. That's what, at the end of the day, we really want. But we've convinced ourselves that we aren't good enough to get that. We don't deserve unconditional love and acceptance. Maybe--just maybe--if we work hard enough we can EARN it, but it's certainly not something someone would just GIVE us. And that's why we spend so much time, and get into so much trouble, looking for love in all the wrong places. We think we WANT things--material objects, or what have you. In my case books and Mt. Dew--and we think if we get those things that we WANT then we'll be happy. But while those things might bring us moments of "happiness," they are temporary. They don't last. I drink the Mt. Dew and then it's gone. I read the book and then it's over. And then I need more Mt. Dew and more books. It's a never ending cycle. Jesus said it like this, "...Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life" (John 4:13-14). Drinking and getting thirsty again. Getting what you WANT and then wanting something else. It's not satisying. It's the carrot and the stick. You want the carrot, but the stick keeps moving just out of reach. But here's the answer, the solution: If we drink the water HE gives us it springs up out of us into everlasting life! If we go to the source we CAN get what we need. And it's everlasting. It's eternal. It's abundant. It's Resurrection Life! We go to the well to drink and we find out that WE are the well that is full of that water of life. We are loved, and that love has transformed us so that we are LOVE. And here's the best part of all: When we go to the source to satisfy our NEED, we find out that what we NEED and what we really WANT is the same thing. We want to be loved and accepted. And we NEED to be loved and accepted. Remember the analogy of a car needing gas? Humans need love. It sustains us. It keeps us going. It empowers us to be who we really are. But the key is to realize that what we want and what we need are the same thing. And we find it in Him. Psalm 37:4 says it like this, "Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart." That's not an if-then statement. Not, "If I delight myself in Him, then he'll give me what I want." That's God telling us HOW to receive the desires of our heart. Because the desire of our heart--to be loved--is satisfied when we delight ourselves in Him. HE is the desire of our heart. HE is all we need!