What I Want, When I Want

Ecclesiastes 2:10-11 “I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work,
and this was the reward for all my labor. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.

“I get what I want, when I want”, is a new “Buzz” phrase going around these days that you can hear on the streets and on television set. The love of materialism today has created the same “eye” problem that King Solomon of Israel wrote about almost a thousand years before the birth of Christ. But the “eye” problem is truly an “I” problem. A co-worker once explained it to me like this: “I see it, I want it, I get it.” Coveting is a prideful envious desire of the self-centered, vain & conceited heart. This distracts our attention off of God and onto ourself. Jesus said in Luke 8:11&14“Now the parable is this: the seed is the word of God. The seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity. "I want it all, and I want it now" is pure greed..

A friend recently told me that “I only live once, so I need to have the finest things in life now.” We deserve it, right? Yikes! Philippians 3:7-9 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.” But notice that the Lord was not even mentioned by the co-worker & friend. The mind-consuming things of this world had blinded their spiritual eye and mastered them.  

Matthew 16:24-26 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?”

In discussing, Philippians 3 with a Bible Study group from church, years ago, one young lady claimed that she wanted both fortune & God. But the Bible tells us in Luke 16:13  that “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” Anything that you love and put before God is an idol. The problem is not the material things that God made in this world, but what we make of them in our desires. We have to rule our yearnings or else they shall rule us. And may the Lord reign and rule in our life always.

Ecclesiastes 3:12-14 &12:13 “I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him. Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

In Christ, Brian