What do you really want, and what are you willing to pay for it? That’s really the question of life, isn’t it, when it all boils down and there’s nothing left, what do you want?
We have spoken in the past about our needs, how without the essentials of food, water and shelter, we will die, our bodies will cease, and although famine does happen it is not a world-wide daily occurrence, and so nearly all human’s basic needs are met each day. “That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matt. 5:45) But once those daily needs are met, there is nothing left but wants, so what do you want?
We are not as different as we like to think from nation to nation, from person to person, we all basically want the same thing, more. It really does not make any difference what that material item is, a new toy for a child, a different vehicle or house, name any item ever produced by mankind and somebody somewhere will want it, many times even if they do not need it. But there are of course other times desired, wanted by humans that cannot be manufactured or produced, most of these are all connected in one way or another by our emotions, and here the offerings are just as expansive as those things made, and in many cases just as difficult to obtain. Love, power, accolades, all meant to affect the way we feel.
Most people want recognition in one form or another, few seek for total anonymity, they want to know they have value, worth in the eyes of even one other individual on this planet. It can become so much of a want, a driving desire, that it can actually become a need in the mind, that if not realized can cause very detrimental effects. Everyone wants something, there are no exceptions, there never has been, not once.
Therefore to live a life where Christ alone is the purpose of a man’s existence is not only rare, but possibly an impossibility, although every effort of that man may be made to attempt to do so. One of the most powerful verses in the Scriptures in this area is Philippians 1:21, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” It speaks of a man who is steadfast in his commitment to the Lord, but it does nothing to assuage the title of this short letter to you, wants, for this man wants Christ. The most expensive item on the planet could not sway this want, in fact, the entire world would not do so. “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36) This particular verse has held no power over such a man for a very long time.
Are the “wants” still there, of course, the want to serve with honor, to submit willingly, to learn to hate evil, to be taught how to be humble, profitable, righteous, holy, how to be Christ-like are the desires of his heart. “And he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” (Psalm 37:4) His continuing wants of the world are that others would heed the call when it is given, that backsliders would repent and return to the arms of the Father, that the wicked would see the error of their ways, that parents would raise their children in the admonition and fear of the Lord. He wants God to be glorified.
Everybody wants something, everybody. There is so much more to Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
