The Lord Should Be Our Ultimate Want

[hldude33]

"The Lord Should Be Our Ultimate Want"
By Zach Wood
Philippians 4:11-13



God is our Shepherd and we should not want other things more than wanting Him. Many of us bang on the cell doors of the “want” prison that we have created for ourselves. The reason we can’t get out is we want to hold onto the things of this world. God stands outside and tell us, “If you want what I have for you, then you must let go of everything the world offers you.”

We must ultimately desire what He offers us. We have to desire to go after what He is giving. Is your desire for Him and Him alone? Or are you following after a temporary idol, offering you promises that will only last a short time instead of eternity?

Remember that the world doesn’t look in your heart to see what you have inside. The world only wants to see how fancy you could make your outer appearance be or how much you can collect to make yourself feel good. The world says the more you have and the more you want, the better life will be. The more you have does not show who you really are. Your heart determines and shows what is truly important.

I want to be very clear in sharing with you that God is not against us wanting things in life. We all like to have certain things and save our money up for things we'd like to buy. Nothing at all wrong with that. Our wants become hazardous in our walk with Christ when we are constantly focusing on things we want and not appreciating and realizing the needs Christ has filled and the things He has done for us.

It all comes down to what we truly desire. Do we want the Lord to really be our ultimate want? Do we trust in Him to supply our needs? Are we fully satisfied to the point where we can live without what we do not need? Can we trust in the Lord to provide what we need when we need it?

 

[rand]

Good post, and good points all of them. Interesting that you called it the 'doors of the want prison' because I always believed that God wants us to have nice things, but He doesn't want things to have us. Just a little something I picked up on.

Also, If we delight ourself in the Lord, He gives us the desires of our heart. Does this mean that He gives us what we want or does it mean that He puts those deisres in our heart? I believe it's both. If we are not idolizing anything, then we will be content in life with where we are and what we have. As long as we are not stagnant, and we are still growing and as we grow we learn not to lean more on ourselves, but lean more on Him. This is where we need to be, and He knows it. We will never be completly satified in this life because this is not our home, we have so much more coming--this world will never be enough to anyone who knows Christ.

If we are saved, and still love what this world has to offer, then we don't really know Him. That doesn't mean we won't be going to Heaven, it just means we don't know what true Joy is. Because peace and joy come from knowing Him. Eternal life is to know the Father.

But to idolize something is not only for worldly possessions. I used to idolize Biblical knowledge and my own faith. I loved how religious I was, until the Father showed me how far I fell short of the mark. Now, I know I have no hope except in Jesus. He is my only hope.

He blesses me so much. I don't deserve any of it. He gives me stuff, money, friends, family, health, peace, joy because of who He is, not because of who I am. He's a giver, and just knowing Him and respecting Him and loving Him the way I do, it makes me a giver too. Like father like son, and He is my Father and He has predestined me to be made in His son's image. That's not happening as fast as it should, but it is happening.