Anyone who knows me knows I like to paint. I like to paint the different rooms in my house. I have been known to carry various paint swatches in my purse. I carry the swatches to help me choose the coordinating items I need to go with the room I painted. Well maybe I don’t need the perfectly coordinated items but I really want them.
This has been a long standing issue in my life and I suspect in the lives of many others as well. I have a hard time understanding what I want and what I really need. Sometimes we can’t tell what we really need until we are forced to make the choice.
When our daughter Alexa was born, in 1999, we did not have much money. We literally had $20 in our bank account. We had cut out many luxuries we thought we needs and realized we could live without them. It became crucial to our families survival to truly examine what was really needed and what was not a necessity. We suddenly realized cell phones, cable, gym memberships and many other things were all wants. We didn’t truly need any of those things.
Having grown up in the church Rob and I had heard 2 Corinthians 9:8 many times but now we were living right in the middle of this truth. God takes care of our needs. This verse tells us God’s grace abounds to us and and in all things and all times we will have all we need. This truth really came to life for us at that season of our lives. God cared for us and covered all our needs.
That season in our lives helped us really understand the difference between wants and needs. Next time you say you need something, stop to think about if it truly is a need or is it a want in disguise. Life is much different for us now. Although we have lots of wants in our lives right now, we know that they are just that, wants. We need to always remember that God knows our needs before we ask him as it says in Matthew 6:8. Leave it to Him to care for all your needs. Ask God to give you the wisdom to see what needs to be done and ask for the courage to do it, and He will give it to you.
So true. We easily confuse wants for needs. Knowing God supplies all our needs, we make choices as we mature in Him, to have a shorter want list, because in His great love He shows us better things to do with our resources. As we read verses 6 and 7 along with verse 8, it all comes together.