Do we really know what we want?

The latest thing on starting your baby on solid foods seems to be, letting your baby choose (within reason) what they eat and how much of it. My problem is, my baby’s CHOICE seems to be to eat the high chair and leave the food...

Sometimes it seems to me, when left to our own devices, we don’t always know what it is we want. Or we want things that ultimately won’t make us happy.

Proverbs 1 talks about evil men who are so desperate to get what they want that they will steal and kill to get it. But actually the things they think will make them happy don’t sound so very far from that of the ordinary person:

“We shall find all precious goods, we shall fill our houses with plunder,” (vs 13) they say.

Who among us can say we’ve never wanted some material object that we thought would make us happy?

And how often is it the thing we thought would make us happy turns out not to in the end? From the bowl of tagliatelle we ordered and and then wished we’d chosen the beef, to the woman we left our wife and children for and then regretted it, human beings often don't seem to know what they really want.

Back in Proverbs 1, we read the fate of the wicked men who sought happiness in stolen wealth.

“Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain; it takes away the life of its possessors” (vs19).

They don't find the happiness they were looking for, in fact it causes their downfall.

What are you looking to to make you happy? Is it the love of a partner? Is it money? Maybe just a holiday? Do you ever sin to try and make yourself happy?

Pursuing happiness seems to be many people's reason to live, and yet life is about so much more than that. What is the point of a life spent in the pursuit of your own desires, when you could have spent your life helping others, making the world a better place, serving God?

A life spent putting God first and yourself and other people second, the bible says, can actually be the route to contentment. Not uninterrupted happiness, not a easy ride day-in-day-out, but a life of contentment.

As Paul wrote:

I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:12-13)

After his conversion, Paul didn't waste his time chasing after his own happiness, looking for wealth or prestige. He found his happiness in God's plans and desires. When you seek God's plans for your life, above every other desire you have, the bible says that Jesus can give us peace and contentment in every circumstance. 

So, are you sure you know what it is you want?

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Interested in more?

Check out some of our Sunday sermons at: http://www.buresbaptistchurch.org/sermon_catchup.php  

Spatial Awarness - Yep, my blog is back!

This week my husband, Chris, has been telling me off again for my lack of spatial awareness. Or as he calls it, ‘not watching what I’m doing’.

I don’t think this is very fair. I DO watch what I’m doing (for example, putting a bottle of wine on the window sill, which I did successfully yesterday). It’s just that I don’t always watch what I’m doing for long enough, (for example, nearly knocking off the glass that was also on the windowsill, as I walked away...).

Chris tried to teach me to play badminton years ago. He made one observation that significantly improved my play. He noticed that every time the crucial moment came and the shuttlecock was flying towards me, I would raise my racket and close my eyes! Now I don’t really understand me (or anyone else) having a morbid fear of being hit in the face with a shuttlecock, but that’s what I was doing. At the last minute, I would close my eyes. And when I made a concerted effort to keep my eyes on the shuttlecock right through to the moment I hit it, my play improved considerably.

How often is it, spiritually speaking, that we are taking our eyes off the prize too early? Maybe we start out doing something with God’s plans in mind, but very quickly we start focussing on our own concerns or ideas.

When you ask God to lead you, you have to see it through. Fight the urge to take back control from Him! Likewise, when you give your life to God - for HIS purposes - you have to fight the urge to start planning what YOU want instead!

Your life is about what God wants. Which is, in fact, what is best for you and those around you. Re-allign your focus and remember what Jesus said to Martha in Luke 10: 41:

You are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed.

 And by that He meant, you only need to keep your eyes on God.

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Interested in more?

Check out some of our Sunday sermons at: http://www.buresbaptistchurch.org/sermon_catchup.php