When our wants out weigh our needs

When our wants out weigh our needs

“Keep deception and lies far from me, Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with the food that is my portion”                                          Proverbs 30:8-9 (NASB)

By Bobby R. Henry, Sr.

      There is something to be said about being content and honest.

     Recently I gorged myself on plantains and fried fish with a side dish of some mighty tasty pigeon peas and rice, cooked the old fashion Bahamian way with some pot cake.

     I was being greedy, plain ol greedy. As with greed I paid for it because my sugar level was elevated quite a bit.

     Now, I know that I didn’t need to eat such a large amount of that rice, but I wanted it.

     When our wants out weigh our needs it becomes greed, which can turn into PAIN.

     I know it has been often said that, “the more things change the more they remind the same”. This statement is about as oxymoronic as oxymorons come.

     In today’s behaviors it is extremely difficult to find individuals who, through their actions, speak steadfastly and boldly to living their lives based on truthfulness and are satisfied in what they have.

     A certain man in the Bible known as Agur (Agur The son of Jakeh. Agur, definition gatherer; the collector, mentioned as author of the sayings in Proverb 30 an otherwise unknown sage) had an unusual point of view on possessions when he requested God to award him two appeals before he died.

     The first one he requested was to make him completely straightforward.

     Truthfulness is  the great cornerstone to a livelihood devoid of fretfulness. When we live a life of complete openness, we have no fear to conceal deceit or a need to live a life of lies- we have nothing to dread.

     Dishonesty enchains; openness sets free.

     The second was to not allow him to be too underprivileged or too well-to-do.

     Satisfaction in being where you are brings forth a conviction in knowing that God is our purveyor, and we enthusiastically are of the same mind and without regrets and not begrudgingly take what He endows us with.

     Agur believed that God is the Designer and Engineer and the Control of all the earth, and He is a safeguard to everyone who positions their all-in-all in Him.

     Where are those, like Agur, who are integrity-minded and filled with contentment over the delight that our God will give us all that we need?

            “What does it take to be open, honest and true; Could it be a life filled with the contentment and the wisdom of knowing that God understands and loves you. God knows the meanings of all and when our wants out weigh our needs; it becomes greed.”                —Bobby R. Henry, Sr.