Let Your Wants Equal Your Haves
by Pastor Mark Taylor
“For I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content” (Philippians 4:11)
Did you know you are rich if you decide to be rich? You can be rich when your “wants” and your “haves” are equal. If you have a million dollars, but you want two million dollars, you are not rich. If you want five dollars, and someone gives you ten dollars, you are rich. If your cup is half full, you are rich. If your cup is half empty, you feel you are not rich. That is up to you!!
“Now godliness with contentment is great gain.” (1 Timothy 6:6).
“Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalms 37:4). This verse is not saying that He will give you what you want, but “He shall give you the desires of your heart.” This is saying He will give you what to want. If you have everything you want, then you will be content. But if you want things you cannot have, you will never be content.
So the Lord wants to give you the right “wants”.
We are made to have control over our wants. We have a free will and we have the ability to choose what to want and what not to want. I am rich because God has given me my “wants” and I have chosen to be content with them. Some great principles to keep your “wants” equal to your “haves” is:
1. Look at what you have today. Think about others who have less. Do you have your health, friends, a relationship with the Lord? Then you are rich. I have good health, good friends, a great church, a wonderful wife, three healthy children, the Lord in my heart, and enough food to eat today.
2. Want no more than you have. That does not mean you don’t plan for the future, it means be satisfied with what you have right now, today. I have a church with 100 members. I don’t want a church with 200 members, today.
I wouldn’t be able to minister to that many people right now. I have a house with 1274 sq ft. I don’t need a house with 3000 sq ft so why want one.
3. Look at what you can have some day. Plan for it, work for it, save for it, and pray for it. But don’t let your wants for tomorrow make you unhappy today. Think about why you want it. Do you really want it or are you trying to impress someone else? That is the wrong reason and when you do get it, you will not be happy. There is an old saying: “Be careful what you want, because you might get it”.
4. Decide to want it when you can have it. Don’t make something a “want” until you can have it. When you can have a new car, then “want” it. When you can have a better job, then “want” it. If you keep feeling bad about what you don’t have, you will never be happy about what you do have today.
5. Don’t want it now. Want it later. Don’t use up your life to quickly.
Sometimes we give our children and teenagers everything they want, right now. They don’t have anything to look forward to when they get older. I waited until I was 61 years old to buy myself and my wife a new car that we wanted. We waited to help our children and gave most of our time and money to the ministry, and then the Lord gave us both the “want” and the finances to have what we have today. There are still some things I want to do because I am waiting on the right time and waiting on the Lord to give them to me.
The Lord has always kept me happy and content. “Rejoice because your names are written in heaven." (Luke 10:20). I keep my wants equal to my haves by thinking about Heaven. “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.”
(Colossians 3:1-2). Ask the Lord to give you a heart for Heaven and for people. Then you can really mean this: ““For I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content” (Philippians 4:11).
Remember what really matters is people in our lives, and the life to come and how we prepare for it. “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. (1 Timothy 6:7-9).
