Desire

I have to be careful about saying I want something now because if it is in my husband’s power to give it, he will! He has such a generous nature. Once he decides on a thing, he follows through swiftly. I’m the one who deliberates for days and then decides I really don’t need anything after all. When we were newlyweds, he would follow me around a shoe store intent on buying me something new, only to leave empty handed. He couldn’t understand how I could spend an hour looking without buying anything. I haven’t found the right ones yet was not an answer he appreciated when he’d watched me try on a dozen or more pairs. I have what I refer to as “menu confusion.” Too many choices stymies me. There is one choice, however, that I make without hesitation every single time! Jesus is Lord of my life.

“When I am overwhelmed, you alone know the way I should turn. Then I pray to you, O Lord. I say, “You are my place of refuge. You are all I really want in life.”

Psalms 142:3, 5 NLT

https://www.bible.com/116/psa.142.3,5.nlt

I’m his song, DRAW ME CLOSE, Michael W. Smith speaks to the Lord, saying, “You’re all I want. You’re all I’ve ever needed. You’re all I want. Help me know You are near.”

Want and need speak of desire unfulfilled. I use these words all the time.

I want…

I need…

Fill in the blank. Anything from ice cream to a break, and what often follows is “for you to…” My wants and needs become dependent on someone else. I become dependent on someone or something else for my happiness or contentment. There is only One whose perfect provision will ever be able to satisfy me.

Paul wrote to the church at Philippi, “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through Christ who gives me strength.”

Philippians 4:12-13 NIV

https://www.bible.com/111/php.4.12-13.niv

Paul discovered a great secret and he shared it freely. Jesus is the essence of contentment. True happiness is found in Christ alone.

Jesus declares His intentions for my good when he said, “My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”

John 10:10 NLT

https://www.bible.com/116/jhn.10.10.nlt

He compares me to a living vine receiving this rich and satisfying life from the Father through Him. “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.”

John 15:4 ESV

https://www.bible.com/59/jhn.15.4.esv

In this modern world where choice is a catchphrase, it’s so important for me to abide in Christ! Eugene Peterson, in his Message translation written with his grandchildren in mind, captures the essence of abiding.

“Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can’t bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can’t bear fruit unless you are joined with me. I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. This is how my Father shows who he is—when you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples.”

John 15:4-8 MSG

https://www.bible.com/97/jhn.15.4-8.msg

When we’re abiding in Christ, making ourselves at home in Him and enjoying the rich and satisfying life He intends, “then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.”

Ephesians 4:15-16 NLT

https://www.bible.com/116/eph.4.15-16.nlt

In Christ, I am full, and in Christ, I am able to contribute something worthwhile in my place and time. Sustainability, another modern catchphrase, was God’s idea! “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him.”

Psalms 24:1 NLT

https://www.bible.com/116/psa.24.1.nlt

As I desire Him above all else, abiding in Him, He fills me up to overflowing with all the fullness of Christ! The same God who made Abraham the father of many nations says to me, “I am your shield, your very great reward.”

Genesis 15:1 NIV

https://www.bible.com/111/gen.15.1.niv

He is all I really want in life!