Everything I Want

The other day, we had Japanese take-out at the office. After our meal, we each read our fortunes. Mostly the same idiotic babble that you always find in a fortune cookie; "You will be traveling soon" (Yeah...I had to travel 13 miles to work) or "You will receive some money this week" (No kidding??? I get a paycheck EVERY week I work!) or "Someone is thinking of you right now" (That's a no-brainer, too! With all the people we meet over the course of our lives, the law of averages alone tells me that!). But, I digress...That particular day, my fortune read "God will give you everything you want". WOW!!! Everything I want! What an amazing God!!!

Let's see...I want my mortgage and cars and any other debt paid off; a million-dollar...well, as long as it is what I want, a BILLION-dollar slush fund; a new sports car for every day of the week; a mansion in the mountains, at the beach, Hawaii, Italy, Spain and wherever else the "High and Mighty" live; a private jet to take me to them all; the biggest and best of everything to go in all of those mansions; and everything else at the snap of my finger as soon as I think about wanting it. Oh...I forgot...I want my own private luxury cruise ship, fully staffed!

Thanks, God! No rush, just sometime next week will be fine...

Now, if only things were that simple.

The Bible tells us if we are faithful, He will give us the desires of our hearts. Woo Hoo! I just named them! But we are also called upon to take care of the poor and the widows. How does having ANY of that stuff benefit them? Did I ever mention that a "want" of mine was to rid the earth of poverty and disease? After all, this is about what I want, not them, right?

Jesus tells us in The Gospel According to Matthew, Chapter 5, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven...Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled." Now, that sounds like what I want. I am pretty sure that if I had all those "worldly" things, that you wouldn't be able to call me meek. I am sure I, and most of the rest of us, would say "look at MY car" or "look at MY mansions", not, "look what the LORD God has provided for me". Part of being "faithful" is living our lives according to God's Word. Ultimately, being Christians, or Christ-like, is to follow His teachings. I want, more than anything, to be "approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed" (2 Timothy 2:15). To do that, we need to get our minds right, and we need to get our hearts right. The only thing we should "want" is to want to be holy and accepted by God.

LORD, help me...help us to see your hand in our lives. Help us to know that we can be more for The Kingdom than we are. Continue to pour out your grace and mercy upon us, so we can share that same grace and mercy with others. Forgive us for wanting things outside of your will, and help to see that if we place ourselves fully into your will, then the things we want are things that YOU want for US.

I hope to live that prayer. As far as earthly things...I have a nice home (that I do want to be paid off, and I believe it IS in His will for us to be debt-free), and a wonderful family. The LORD has blessed me with a wife and children and possessions that I know I am not deserving of. However, if I live my life the way that God wants me to, then I will be deserving of every blessing I receive both here on earth and in eternity.

That's what I truly want...