Ch. 798 - The List: Wants and Needs

As with Ch. 775, I have decided to group items on the list into one post.  I have decided to do this because of the great confusion that people have seemed to create over that which are wants and needs.

Want, want, want.
I want, want, want.
We want, want, want.

Need, need, need.
I need, need, need.
We need, need, need.

Hmph.

What I want is this: people to stop wanting all the time.
And what I need is this: people to stop needing what they merely want.
Er, for people to - at the least - stop saying they need what they merely want.

Sad, isn't it?  How greatly we tend to focus on what we [supposedly] want.

And I mean, it's not even the wanting that is so horrendous at times, but rather the objects of our wants... as well as the fact that it is more often than not ourselves that we desire to gratify, or obtain for.

Why not focus on what we see in Scripture that points to what God wants?
Both of and for us.

Does it really all come down to love?
I move that the answer very well may be 'yes'.

I suppose it's under the umbrella of '"Jesus" is always the right answer' when asked a question in Sunday school.  Silly, but true.  Just take a moment and think about it.  And then take another moment to read over the following Scripture verses:

' "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." '
[Micah 6:8]
... Don't fret over 'require'.

' "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' "
[Matthew 22:36-39]

'Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.'
[James 1:27]

'Come near to God and he will come near to you...'
[James 4:8a]

Pretty forseeable verses to pull, I know.  Typical.  But I appreciate the fact they all do, indeed, point to loving God and others in one way or another.  They also all have to do with relationships, whether with God or people.  And while I would love to say that these are things that God "needs" us to do... I have a difficult time believing that God actually needs us to do anything.

There is so very much more to it.  I mean, I'm pretty sure that God "wants" us to obey Him.  And after three years of Bible college, I think it's safe to say that I know God does not "want" us to kill people - among other things.  ... Heh.

Perhaps God wants me to be a comedian.

I will say it again:

'Sad, isn't it?  How greatly we tend to focus on what we [supposedly] want.'
... Rather than that which is necessary, our needs to live.
Serve.
Teach.
Equip.
And yet, do we even truly need anything to do those things?

We certainly don't need anything to love.

Well.
Other than the knowledge and belief that we were first loved by God, perhaps.