Have you ever gotten what you wanted and discovered it wasn’t what you needed?
We become discontent when we blur the distinction between a need and a want. So what’s the difference between a ‘want’ and a ‘need’?
A need refers to anything that sustains our overall well-being and fosters the full development of our physical, psychological, spiritual, or relational health. A want represents the way we would prefer to meet a need. If a need is the “what” we want, a want represents the “how” and “when” I wish I could get what I want.
Need was put inside of us before the Fall. The Fall twisted our ability to get our needs met naturally by God and perfect relationship with each other. Pride entered the scene, and suddenly we said, “I know how to get my needs met. I can do it in my own strength and wisdom. I don’t need God at all, or I need God and….”
We all have basic needs… love, acceptance, worthiness, and security. God made us to live with our needs met. In fact, we can’t live very well unless they are met. Yet, because we don’t know they are already met, we work hard at trying to meet these needs ourselves.
Often we look to others or things in trying to meet these needs. But we can’t satisfy our own needs, no matter how hard we work or who we try to get to meet them. The little that we do strive for will not last, and we will have to go out and work hard again tomorrow to get them met again.
We quickly learn that living the Christian life is not about us living for God. Rather, it is all about Christ living His life in us. We are fused as one! Just as important is the fact that at the point of salvation God gave us a new identity to live from. With this new identity, God renewed our mind and set us free from any and all false beliefs we have about ourselves.
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