Gotta have it!

"I want, I want, I want!"  A good many years ago I remember a woman with a small child in a cart, ambling down the aisle in a store.  The child is brainlessly chanting I want, I want, I want--when the woman with a gentle yet firm flick to the head arrested the attention of the child.  He looked around curious as to what had occurred, and then sat quiet as they continued down the aisle.

Philippians 4:11  "Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therein to be content.12)  I know how to be abased, and I know also how to abound: in everything and in all things have I learned the secret both to be filled and to be hungry, both to abound and to be in want.13)  I can do all things in him that strengtheneth me.
 

Many is the time I have watched people that have nice homes, nice vehicles, nice clothes yet they need to go...maybe they need to go to the mall, or they need to go to this store, or that sale, or...
I have watched people that appear to have it all, yet they go out to bring home more.

"He who has enough of anything should be satisfied.  Do you know when you have enough?"  (Merril Speller, book one) 

Now, in my life there are things I've had enough of.  Just having enough of anything is a nebulous idea.  There have been days, weeks, months and even years that I felt as if I'd had enough trials, temptations and bad 'time and chance' to last for a lifetime.  Yes, I knew when I had enough of that!

Looking on the other side do we know when we have enough of this world's goods?  The real struggle is when we have ample, yet we have this nagging voice telling us there is still more that we need.  This is the voice that gets us in trouble. 

I Timothy 6:6  But godliness with contentment is great gain: 7)  for we brought nothing into the world, for neither can we carry anything out; 8)  but having food and covering we shall be therewith content. 9)  But they that are minded to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare and many foolish and hurtful lusts, such as drown men in destruction and perdition. 10)  For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil: which some reaching after have been led astray from the faith, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 11)  But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.

Love of money, love of things, "We are supposed to love people, and use things." It is not wrong to enjoy good things that we are blessed with, at least to a point.  We don't want to let them become a snare that we drown in.

Dave Ramsey says about money, "Money isn't good or bad...it just makes you more of what you already are."  The things we 'gotta have' are very much like money--they make you more of what you already are.

The author of a diet piece was suggesting that, "imagine globs of cheese, butter, chocolates whatever you eat excessively, imagine it stuck all over your body".  That was supposed to help the over eaters to stop overeating.  That is a unique idea. I wonder how it would work if we imagined what we crave of worldly items stuck all over our self.  Just how would we look if we had a computer stuck on us, or a big screen t.v., or a fancy car, or...the possibilities are endless.

The question is, just what have you got to have?