Thinking About What I NEED

A teaser headline that came up on my Facebook wall reminded me of a conversation I had the other day.

"The Beatles: Facts and Scandalous Trivia
You Need to Know"

Really?
If I don't know these things I might go hungry, or shiver in the cold, or my wife might leave me?  A friend and I were talking about this matter of need a few days ago.  He teaches Sunday School to a group of first-graders.  As the gift-a-copia of Christmas was on the near horizon, the topic of a recent lesson was, "What do we really need?" You probably have a pretty good idea. High on the list was the latest electronic gadget. I have more sypathy for those who "needed" a bike--at least it will cause them to exercise. On it goes. To get a lesson on 21st Century need--of course not to be confused with a word that rhymes and begins with "gr"--just watch one of the house hunter type "reality" TV shows. Two people need four bedrooms. How have so many of us survived so long without granite counter-tops? Just listen to the show; they are necessity. Listening to the house-shoppers, it is easy to see why kids in primary school have warped views of what they need. We have taught them well.

The Bible is not opposed to people having nice things, but when we come to think that we need them, we are well on our way to the things having us.  It's a form of idolatry.
This is Something to Think About, so I'd encourage you to think about it.  The following will give you some material for your thought-mill:

• Matthew 6:19-34
• Hebrews 13:5
• 1 Timothy 6:6-11
• "Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction." - Erich Fromm, Escape From Freedom

By the way, I didn't read the article about the Beatles. I don't need to know.
 

It's STTA.

What I Want/Need

Something To Think About What I Want/Need:

How often do I find myself asking myself, “What can that person do for me?” or, “What have they done for me lately?”  The seemingly endless political campaign that just keeps on going in the USA reeks of those kinds of questions.  It seems like kids learn to ask those questions, and manipulate others based on the answers, about the same time they learn their first word, “NO!” There is a whole branch of Christianity that is basically all about applying those questions to the God of the universe.  It is variously called Prosperity Theology, Name-it-and-Claim-it, or as a friend labels it, “Blab it and Grab it.”  Shaping one’s Theology around consumerism, and/or viewing people as means to an end—MY end—is clearly contrary to the teaching of the Bible.  To quote a Theological lesson I learned when I was just a little guy,   “Jesus and others and you, what a wonderful way to spell joy.”   Not only is looking at the Universe as my amusement park wrong, in an intellectual sense, from a pragmatic viewpoint it doesn’t work.  People who get everything they want, especially if it is just given to them, don’t turn out very well.   “A child who gets his own way brings shame to his mother.”  (Proverbs 29:15) Quite often what we most need is what we want the least. Hebrews 12 points out that as our loving Father, God disciplines us.  The language is quite severe.  Self-discipline, not self-indulgence, leads to improvement. But since that might not be what you wanted to read, you might have already quit.   It’s STTA. Read here to find out about what we really need.