Want meets need

You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need. 

(Vernon Howard)

When all you really want is only what you really need - ponder that one for just a moment because I think we oftentimes aren't really content with what we need - we want more. In fact, society actually encourages us to live way beyond our needs - fulfilling those far out wants we may have. When our needs and wants grow closer and closer together, we may just be at the place of having drawn so near to God's heart that all those 'far out wants' aren't all that important anymore.

No doubt about it! God is good— good to good people, good to the good-hearted. But I nearly missed it, missed seeing his goodness. I was looking the other way, looking up to the people At the top, envying the wicked who have it made, Who have nothing to worry about, not a care in the whole wide world. (Psalm 73:1-5)

We can totally miss the goodness God provides within our lives when all we are pursuing is the long list of wants we can conjure up in our minds and hearts. There are times when I need to rein in my list of wants, but find it hard to do because my mind and heart are all mixed up in their pursuit. That is when I have to go to God and ask him to change my focus - because I have grown too intent on looking up to the wrong things and people in life. We can all find ourselves there at times, but God's greatest glory is revealed when we allow the change in who we 'put at the top' of our focus.

Whoever is intent on pursuing 'things at the top' as the world would desire will find they are very displeased with the outcome of such pursuits - they don't last and leave us wanting even more. If you have ever tried to eat just one potato chip, you know it is nearly impossible - one creates the taste for another. The same is true when we focus on 'things at the top' as the world portrays them - things they declare we cannot live without. We 'taste' a bit of what is offered and then we want even more. 

When wants match needs it isn't by accident - it is because we have allowed our thoughts to be filtered by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit within. Filtered to the point we don't 'crave' what isn't going to fulfill us. Filtered so that all we want becomes more of God's grace, love, and presence. I daresay we all have experienced that place a bit from time to time, but how awesome would it be to actually live there all the time? Just askin!