Peeking ahead in the book of Philippians there is a well-known scripture that can be desirable, but leave us a bit challenged in how to live it out.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 4:4-7 ESV

The following insights were compiled after listening to Daily Hope by Rick Warren. There is so much truth, hope and encouragement in this message that we needed to capture and let it sink in to our lives. A link to the message is provided at the bottom of this message.

We all have our personal needs, and we also have personal wants.  We cannot let them blend together otherwise our wants will appear to us as needs and this is dangerous as we get burdened with unreasonable expectations of ourselves and others.

It’s healthy to be content, but envy can eat you up. – Proverbs 14:30 CEV

It is better to be satisfied with what you have than to be always wanting something else. – Ecclesiastes 6:9 GNT

Have you ever or currently struggle with separating and clarifying the difference of needs and wants?

It has been proven that if our ‘yearnings’ exceed our ‘earnings’ we will have challenges.  Mentally, spiritually and physically. Have you ever wondered how poor people can sometimes be more joyful than rich people? Have you ever noticed that some of the rich people you know are stressed out, some even angry most of the time? Who do you think has healthy definitions of needs and wants? This is known as the “Principle of Contentment”.

In the first verse above it says that envy can eat us up. We may have missed that or just focused on the first half of the scripture. If we pause for a minute and realize that we may need to ask the question. What is eating you up? When it comes to our healthy, we should not only focus on what we eat, but what is eating us? We can eat healthy, but if we having things eating us, it is painful, frustrating and unhealthy. Have you ever seen a outwardly physical healthy person, with anger, frustration and stress? Some signs of being eaten up are worry, bitterness, guilt, resentment and anxiety.

Do any of those signs consume your mind? Any of those signs cause you trouble?

One of our common driving forces or situations we can get into is our desire to impress or be accepted by others. I know I have been caught in this trap multiple times in my life. It is hard to see when I am in the season, and I can rationalize it and create great arguments for my decisions, but later, it becomes evident.

The desire to buy things I don’t need, with money I did not have to impress people I don’t even like.  Make sure it is clear, because I have a line of credit and can buy something, does not mean I have the money, I merely have available debt.  Many times my desire to get something is to prove that I can get it. Maybe even the idea of getting something to feel included.  I know there was a time in my life when everyone seemed to have an iPod, and to feel included I had a need to get an iPod. it was not that I was deprived and did not have a way to listen to music, I just wanted to make sure I was not missing out on something, and that others would look at me as being on the cutting edge or merely fitting in.  But at the time, I rationalized and was consumed with the idea that I needed that iPod and it was worth going into debt or spend more money on something that was not really needed, but just wanted.

Have you been there? Looking back have there been things that you justified as a “need”, but now you can see it was merely a “want”?

Discontent is not only the drive to fulfill a void, but the frustration and disappointment when something does not measure up to our “wants”. A simple example, go and buy something that I want, car, computer, phone, home, television, it really does not matter; then as I admire what I have I begin to notice all the things that it does not have. The thing I desired and pursued and obtained, is not all I want it to be. I get a new car, then I realize I did not get all the options that were available. I get a new computer and I wish I would have gotten more storage or ram, or a better graphic screen. I get a new television, but realize a different model has more features than my brand new one has. Or I could have gotten a bigger television for the same price. And the list goes on and on. I can get a brand-new something and be discontent with it in the same day.

The Effects of Always Wanting More

If we are always wanting more, we will always be working harder. Sort of like the hamster on the wheel. It can just wear us out. We strive to do more, achieve more to get more.  Then as it gets more difficult, the desire is to achieve and prove that we can do it, and then realize our motivation was actually unrealistic as we get worn out and exhausted.

If we are tired all of the time, it is a symptom that we are trying to do too much. The drive to get more causes us to overwork, and that depletes our energy and we can just run ourselves right into the ground.

Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich. Be wise enough to know when to quit. – Proverbs 23:4 NLT

Not only do we get tired by wanting more, we end up with more expenses. So many times I have been caught up in the thorns of life and can’t even recall what I bought with the debt on a credit card I am still trying to pay off.

The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it. So what good is wealth—except perhaps to watch it slip through your fingers! – Ecclesiastes 5:11 NLT

And that scripture is quite enlightening. Sometimes the desire is not to have the thing I work so hard for but to have the power to draw people to me that are in need.  That concept of being important to someone. That situation where someone is envying or desiring for something we have. That feeling is sometimes the true desire of our heart, not the desire for the material thing, but the desire of others to want what we have…pride.

This is also illustrated with King Hezekiah in Isaiah, chapter 39. Where in his pride he shows off all Jerusalem has and the wealth obtained, only to lose it all when Babylonians turned on them and carried all their treasures and the people off into exile.

Can you relate to the effects of wanting more?

The truth of the situation is “the more money we have, the more money we spend”.  There was a bumper sticker “I used to dream of the salary I am now starving on”. I know that I had never believed I would ever make the money I am making today, but I don’t have more money, I have more stuff, more obligations, more responsibility.

The reality is that the issue is not that we don’t make enough, but that we want too much. Put another way the things we think about as “needs” are actually just “greeds”. God said he would give us all our needs, not all our greeds. He will give us everything we truly need, but many times he will withhold things that He knows is not really needed or may even be harmful for us.

Besides exhaustion and debit, wanting more will bring us more anxiety. The more we have, the more we have to worry about. The more we are responsible for. The maintenance and upkeep, The energy to keep and eye on it to make sure someone does not take what is ours from us.

A great example I had was when I owned a new boat back in the 90’s. We would go out on the lake and take friends out and have fun all day, then we would come in and they would go home all happy and I would be outside cleaning the boat and worrying about what needed attention or needing to vacuum and and wipe down the hull. I would exhaust myself and sometimes get angry how bad “those people” treated my boat. I built up resentment and even identified people I would not invite out again. Meanwhile, they went home and did not spend any energy on that boat. I had the boat to impress people I did not like anyway. And did I mention, I was making payments for that boat?

Can you relate to spending energy on things that are merely just wants in our life and not necessities? Maybe even a time where you got frustrated or angry about a situation such as my example?

Workers may or may not have enough to eat, but at least they can get a good night’s sleep. The rich, however, have so much that they stay awake worrying. – Ecclesiastes 5:12

Who do you think slept better in my boat example? Me or the guests I had out that day?  There was a study that indicated “insomnia increases with income”. The concept of having more money and still not sleeping well because of your finances. It can eat us up.

With more fatique, more expense and more anxiety we ended up with more conflict in our life. With coworkers, with family and friends.

Whoever is greedy for unjust gain troubles his own household – Proverbs 15:27 ESV

And let us pay attention to that one word in the middle of that scripture “unjust”. That is where we need to have clear discernment between needs and wants. We can destroy our relationships over “wants”.  The biggest cause to marriage divorce is financial tension.

People who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. – 1 Timothy 6:9 (NLT)

Many of us have been plunged into ruin and destruction. Some of more than once. Being content gives us the ability to be wise and healthy.

Wanting more brings more dissatisfaction. Our thoughts of having more will make us happy. That if I get more things will be better, or more important or more liked and loved. We can buy happiness, but those feelings don’t last. Just like we described earlier with buying a material thing.

This also drives us to upgrade and improve. Even sometimes with our decisions to buy we take into consideration what how we can upgrade or improve in the future, because we actually. know the first purchase is not what we really want, but if we get it and work a bit harder we can get what we want. The challenge is that many times when we get that next upgrade, we are already two upgrades behind and we get another goal. Sound familiar?

If you love money, you will never be satisfied; if you long to be rich, you will never get all you want. It is useless. – Ecclesiastes 5:10 (GNT)

This week really try to exercise discernment with your desires. Pay attention to your mental thoughts and motivations. Next session we will learn about how to be content, now that we know what we are lacking and truly in need of…

To listen to the original broadcast visit: https://pastorrick.com/player/?id=27595