In the words of Bob (as in the movie "What About Bob?"), "Gimme, gimme, gimme, I need, I need!"
Do you have a list of "gimme, I need's" in your world? I do. I want a few more bookshelves, an endless list of books to put on the shelves (after reading them, of course), new kitchen countertops, a cleaning lady, an iPhone, more hours in a day, a live website, an obedient dog...I could go on and on. And, for all of my wants I could make a convincing argument for why they're needs, but that's only because I'm terribly good at argumentation (not something to brag about).
So why do we have these endless lists of "needs"? Why are we never satisfied? For starters, we live in an advertising world that spends billions of dollars to tell us several times a minute that there are things we need. But, let's not blame the world - it's too easy. After all, advertising wouldn't be so prolific if it weren't effective and easy. In other words, we're weak and pliable and easily convinced that everyone else's life must be easier than our own and if we just had one more, or two more, or three more, or four more things our life would be easy too.
News flash --- nobody's life is easy. Everyone has a story and a challenge. Others challenges may seem easier than our own, but that's only because they're not ours. People with kids look at people without kids and think, "Gosh, what I could do if I had their time." People without kids look at people with kids and think, "Wouldn't it be great to have more hands in the house to get things done?" People without money look at people with money and think, "Wow, that must be great." People with money look at people without money and think, "Wasn't life so much easier when it was simpler?"
The grass is greener, the joneses, blah, blah, blah. We've heard it all before. But still, wouldn't it be nice to have our gimme list?
I don't have anything profound, but I do have a suggestion...if we put Jesus first on our gimme list and desire Him with as much passion as we often desire the other things on our gimme list, I think things will not only work themselves out, but we'll receive more than we ever imagined.
Do you have a list of "gimme, I need's" in your world? I do. I want a few more bookshelves, an endless list of books to put on the shelves (after reading them, of course), new kitchen countertops, a cleaning lady, an iPhone, more hours in a day, a live website, an obedient dog...I could go on and on. And, for all of my wants I could make a convincing argument for why they're needs, but that's only because I'm terribly good at argumentation (not something to brag about).
So why do we have these endless lists of "needs"? Why are we never satisfied? For starters, we live in an advertising world that spends billions of dollars to tell us several times a minute that there are things we need. But, let's not blame the world - it's too easy. After all, advertising wouldn't be so prolific if it weren't effective and easy. In other words, we're weak and pliable and easily convinced that everyone else's life must be easier than our own and if we just had one more, or two more, or three more, or four more things our life would be easy too.
News flash --- nobody's life is easy. Everyone has a story and a challenge. Others challenges may seem easier than our own, but that's only because they're not ours. People with kids look at people without kids and think, "Gosh, what I could do if I had their time." People without kids look at people with kids and think, "Wouldn't it be great to have more hands in the house to get things done?" People without money look at people with money and think, "Wow, that must be great." People with money look at people without money and think, "Wasn't life so much easier when it was simpler?"
The grass is greener, the joneses, blah, blah, blah. We've heard it all before. But still, wouldn't it be nice to have our gimme list?
I don't have anything profound, but I do have a suggestion...if we put Jesus first on our gimme list and desire Him with as much passion as we often desire the other things on our gimme list, I think things will not only work themselves out, but we'll receive more than we ever imagined.
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