Our Wants
My man wants a bowl of Homestead Creamery vanilla ice cream at the end of the day.
Friends who know him well, gave him this 5 gallon tub for his birthday.
Constantly carrying a phone on our person permits social media to creep into every crevice of our lives dangling the temptation to want in front of us. Just this morning on Instagram an advertisement had an appealing new toy "guaranteed to bring family fun" popped up with a buy two get one free deal. I almost bit.
An ad for a cute boutique in SC came across Facebook one day and I clicked "follow". I've yet to buy anything, but each week there is something I want!
I did sub come to the pleases of a couple grandsons who on TV had seen a "must have toy" for Christmas. "We really want this," they pleaded. When I went to the store to purchase this piece of plastic and slime there were two empty cases on the shelves. It took me back to the Christmas of Cabbage Patch kids and the horrendous hunt. Advertising works! A lot of kids want what they see on TV. (So, scary when you consider the shows they are watching and the lifestyle wants they are promoting.)
Do we advertise for Jesus? Do others see who Jesus is in us and want what Christ provides?
I was in a conversation with a woman recently who'd heard of how I had resolved a couple conflicts. She seemed to jokingly say, "I wish I could put on the Christian lingo like you do instead of cussing someone out." She quoted verbatim what I had said in two instances. She'd been listening.
I was stunned and replied, "You do realize I sincerely meant what I had said to those people and I actually did pray for guidance before entering those conversations?"
It makes me sick to my stomach thinking she believes its a show, something I "put on". The reality that this person, who lives states away, doesn't have Christian fellowship in her life with people advertising what a life with Christ looks and a willingness to disciple her in what she wants saddens me. The "Christian lingo," a praying life, a discipline to surrender to the Holy Spirit, and a daily dig into the scriptures is like a foreign language to some people.
"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world-the desires of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and pride of life-is not from the Father but is from the world." 1 John 2:15-16
May we want Jesus more than silver or gold today. May we want Jesus more than anything this world has to offer.
