The following is not original to me, but the message is convicting. I remember so often as a child telling my parents that I wanted something and then convincing myself mentally that I needed it. The problem that I had and that others do as well is that we are very good at convincing ourselves. And we convince ourselves that this thing will satisfy us. Of course, there is only One who can. Read the following to see how this domino effect progresses from “I want” to idolatry.
You once desired it, but now you’re persuaded that you need it. Once you’ve named it a need, it has you.
It may be the sloppiest, most all-inclusive word used in human language: need. We put far too many things into our “need” category. That’s why Jesus reminds us that we have a heavenly Father who knows exactly what we need (see Matthew 6). Embedded in that reminder are both a comfort and a confrontation. The comfort is that there is One who once created and now controls everything that is, and who has unleashed his awesome power so that you and I may receive from his hand every good thing that we need to be what we were designed to be and to do what we have been called to do. No need has been unmet by his gracious hands. But this statement also carries with it a humbling rebuke. We need a heavenly Father who knows what we need, because we don’t. We get want and need confused all the time.
Here’s how need-driven addiction (spiritual slavery) develops. It all starts with desire (“I want . . .”). There is nothing evil about desire. God created us with the capacity to desire. Everything we say and do is the product of desire. Yet it is very hard for sinners to hold desire with an open hand. It doesn’t take long for our desires to morph into demands (“I must . . .”). The thing that was once a desire is now taking hold of us. We’re less willing to live without it. We’re more and more convinced that we have to have it. Then demand morphs into need (“I will . . .”). Now, with great resolve and surety, we are convinced that we cannot live without it. This thing that was once an open-handed desire has been christened a need. We’re now fully convinced that it would be impossible to live without it. It is now in control of our hearts. We think about it all the time. We are fearful when we’re without it. We plot how to keep it in our lives.
But the cycle of slavery doesn’t end there. Need forms expectation as to what God ought to do (“You should . . .”). You see, if you’re convinced it’s a need, you will think you’re entitled to it, you will be convinced that you have the right to demand it, and you will judge God’s love by his willingness to deliver it. Expectation then leads to disappointment if God doesn’t deliver (“You didn’t . . .”). We can’t believe that God would say that he loves us yet not meet this “need.” The fact is, God has been faithful to all that he’s promised us, but this desire that morphed into a need is not something he’s promised to give us. So disappointment leads us to some kind of anger (“Because you didn’t, I will . . .”). Because we now judge God as unfaithful, we quit trusting him as we should and we let go of our good habits of faith. Isn’t it good to know that Jesus came to free us from our idolatry?
Excerpt from: “New Morning Mercies” by Paul David Tripp