All Your Needs

Life can be very difficult.  Just trying to pay the bills make ends meet can be a challenge.  For many, the hope that things will get better somehow is what keeps them going.  A commonly shared dream is that of a big windfall someday, somehow dropping into their laps.  What drives the state lotteries and keeps the doors of casinos open is that dream of a big payday.

Life would be so much easier if only we had some way of seeing to it that all our needs were going to be met, that we would have to worry about making it by.  If only we had some assurance that we will have enough, we could rest easy on that front allowing us to enjoy life and focus on more important things than economics.

If only?  There is no if, and or but about it, as my mother used to say.  In Christ, we do have precisely such assurance: "My God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus" (Phil 4:19).  Yeah, but.  Nope, no buts.  In Christ, God will meet our all needs - period, exclamation point!

Some of you may be thinking, "I hate to burst your bubble Doc, I am just barely making it.  I live paycheck to paycheck."  I have no doubt that what your are saying is true.  However, let me introduce two things to consider: 1) you are still here and 2) the difficulty in making ends meet has more to do with the ends we choose than the needs we have.

Let me amplify that a bit.  If you are reading this, your needs have been met to date and you have more than you need or else you could not be on the Internet reading my post.  Yes, most have trouble making ends meet but look at the ends we are trying to put together.

Our physical needs of food, clothing and shelter are much easier to provide than all the stuff we can acquire by diving headlong into debt as we tend to do.  If we made it a habit of living within our means instead of stretching our lifestyle to our economic limits, the stress factor of life would begin to shrink.

But, what if we took God for his word that he will meet our all needs?  Stress would vanish from our lives entirely.  What if we really believed that in putting the kingdom of God first in our lives, He would meet all the needs of food, shelter and clothing (see Matthew 6:25ff)?  Question: Do you have those things currently?  Do you believe God can continue meeting those needs?

One more thing, critical to understanding God's blessings, is treasure seeking.  Much of our stress comes from seeking treasures on earth instead of in heaven as Jesus so plainly tells us in Matthew 6:19-20.   If our success is measured by the stuff we can gather around us in life, we will forever be chasing the wind of materialism.  But, when we set our sights on gaining the treasures of heaven, we find the breath of God and "the peace that passes all understanding" (Phil 4:7).  Jus' Say'n.