Needs

I have been thinking about what we need, when we need it, and how we get what we need. There is nothing more stressful than to have a "need" pressing on you and there is nothing YOU can do to meet it. You have done everything you can do... made all the right decisions, sacrificed whatever might need to be sacrificed, suffered for the "cause"... whatever it might be.

Here is the thing... who defines our "need?" Far too often the stress of a "need" is self-inflicted because we have gotten ourselves into a big ole mess and want God to come in to clean it up. We rant and rave, cry and cry, beg and plead hoping God will get us out of this mess we made.

Well, guess what... that is not His job. His job is to take care of us... to teach us... to love us. When my brother was a knobby-kneed teenager, he REALLY wanted a car. He looked and looked. He pointed out cars to my Dad. He begged. It was pitiful. (Sorry,Kev!) Dad told him to save his money. Kevin worked hard and saved his money. When he had saved enough after about a year, Dad took him and they bought a car, almost completely with Kevin's saved money. It was a piece of junk. Really. I am not kidding. It was a 1980 Pontiac Phoenix. I remember going with them to get it at the junk yard. Kevin and I did not get along the best when I was 14 and he was 15, but even I felt sorry for him.

Kevin loved it. See, he had WORKED hard for it. He had EARNED it. He had learned to appreciate it. Problem is... it was a piece of junk. But he took care of it like it was a Porsche. He washed it and waxed it all the time. I dare not get in it with dirty shoes. It was HIS.

One Wednesday night about a year later, Kevin left the house a little early to go to church. Mom and I left about 10 minutes later. We got to a stop light and saw that a car was broken down in the intersection. Yep. It was Kevin. He was crushed. It would cost more to fix it than it did when he bought it.

I had never seen Kevin that upset. He suffered about a week. Mom and Dad did not say much... just told him that stuff happens and he had to be patient. A few days later, Dad took Kevin to run an errand. They came back with another car, this one much newer and in great shape.

Here is the big question: would Kevin love this one as much? Yep. See, Kevin had learned the VALUE of blessings. Dad had seen that Kevin could be trusted to appreciate what he HAD, and not be consumed with what he WANTED. Kevin loved that second car even more than the first. See, this one had been a GIFT entrusted to him by his father. After already learning the value of hard work and appreciating that piece of junk, he had now experienced someone trusting him to handle something greater. Dad COULD have just bought Kevin the better car in the first place, but would that have been the RIGHT thing to do? No.

So, who gets to determine what we need. Is it simply determined by how we FEEL? Or should it be determined by Who we trust? Do we confuse WANTS with NEEDS? Perhaps we should be using our waiting time to learn to be FAITHFUL in small things, so we can prove trustworthy with big things. Jesus told us a story about this. See Matthew 25.14-30.

Today, I am thankful for the small things.

Pastor Brian