What Do You Want?
By Grant Gaines
“What do you want for Christmas?” This will be one of most frequently asked questions during this post-Thanksgiving, pre-Christmas Day season. The answers will range as wide at the Grand Canyon. Kids from one to ninety-two will ask for any and everything under the sun.
And if you really think about it, this question isn’t reserved only for this special time of the year, it’s a question we ask ourselves every day. “What do I want to eat?” “Where do I want to go shopping this afternoon?” “What time do I want to go to bed?” We are consumed with this simple question that dictates so many of our life altering decisions—“What do I want?”
I believe that this is actually one of our country’s biggest problems. Although we as Americans throw away 90 BILLION pounds of food every year[1], and spend an average of $7 per day on entertainment compared to the world that lives on an average of $2.50 a day[2], we are a country that is dominated by more want.
We always want the faster car, the bigger house, or the smaller waist line. And in our pursuit of these desires, we do a lot of silly things. In fact, any time you allow your thoughts or actions to be directed by want, you’re asking for trouble. Let me use some practical examples to support my point.
Have you ever heard it said that you should not go to the grocery store when hungry? That’s because when you go to the store with the desire to eat consuming your thoughts, that bag of cookies, chips, and candy looks a lot better now than it did when you went to the store with a full belly last week. Not only do you spend $30 more than you intended to, you now have a pantry stocked full of junk food. You would never pay for gas that expensive on any other occasion, but your low fuel light just came on and you really need some gas. You would never pay $5 for a water bottle but your mouth is as dry as the Sahara Desert and it’s the cheapest drink the concession stand at the ballpark offers. When you’re in a state of want, you do a lot of foolish things.
But it’s one thing to be in a state of physical want (food, water, gas), and it’s a whole different story when you’re in a state of spiritual want (the desire for satisfaction). Physical want will drive you to spend more money, eat more food, and watch more TV. Spiritual want will drive you to despair, depression, and utter destruction if you’re not careful to look in the right places.
The prodigal son found himself in a state of spiritual want and do you remember what he did? He hit the road with money, youth, and the dream of finding satisfaction in a far country (Luke 15:11-24). But his desire for satisfaction had him looking in all the wrong places until one day his pockets didn’t have the same jingle they once had as he ran completely out of money. What began as a search for happiness and satisfaction climaxed with the wayward lad now longing for leftovers from the pig pen—the most detestable place a Jew could ever imagine.
Judas found himself in a state of want when he desired just a few more dollars to bolster his savings account and 401K. This desire led him to sell out the Savior for thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:15). What began as a desire for satisfaction through money resulted in Judas hanging himself from a tree in spiritual, moral, and emotional destitute.
You know what’s interesting about both of those stories? Both men got what they wanted but were left wanting more. The prodigal son got his Playboy lifestyle and Judas got his money but neither seemed to satisfy their wandering hearts. It’s been said that sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay. I wonder how often we fall into sin because we look to scratch our itch of desire and want in all the wrong places.
Apparently David was contemplating what he wanted one day. After he pondered this question for a long time, he picked up his pen and began to write the most famous Psalm in the Bible beginning with these words, “The LORD is my Shepherd, I shall not want” (Psalms 23:1, NIV). Wow! Because God is with me, I shall not want.
What if this Christmas season instead of being overpowered by your desire for a new watch, Apple product, or car, you allowed David’s words to be your heart’s motto?
What a relief that would be to wake up on Christmas morning not wondering which present under the tree is going to be the one to satisfy you, but realizing that you already have the only Present that can truly satisfy—Jesus Christ. That’s the greatest gift of all—God with us, Immanuel (Matthew 1:23). No longer do you have to listen to your want and your longing desires for satisfaction because God, the only One who can satisfy, is with us.
That is a Gift worth wanting.
Comments? Questions? Suggestions?
©Grant Gaines 2013
