Wanting is on the Way Out

I John 2:15-17

¹⁵ Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. ¹⁶ For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. ¹⁷ And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever. NLT

^15-17 Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity. MSG

Wowza.

Right now I’m feeling a bit convicted. Lately I have spent far too much time on Pinterest and thinking about things I want to do, change, and get. I’m even thinking about why I write. Is it for me? Or because I feel that God has been telling me to write?

This morning’s breakfast conversation with my hubs ended up with an Amazon order of a new cordless vacuum cleaner. Because we wanted one. Because it’s convenient. (Although there are a million ways we can justify it with all the dog hair…) No, it’s not evil to buy a vacuum cleaner, just to clarify. But maybe I need to consider where my heart is, and what is at the core. Is buying a vacuum a symptom of being discontent and unsatisfied? I feel like many conversations lately have been surrounded with things that we want. We. Us. Me. I.

ἐπιθυμία  (epithymia) desire, craving, longing, lust, desire for what is forbidden

But I think it doesn’t just mean “what is forbidden.” I think it means anything that puts me off-kilter. Anything that consumes my thinking and keeps me from thinking about what really matters. The Message version puts it clearly; “The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting…”

Maybe I should think about the antonym of “wanting” or ἐπιθυμία.

According to wordhippo.com, the opposite of ‘to have a desire for’ includes the following: “not want (duh), be averse to, give, be generous, be content, be confident, be chaste, be pure, reject, yield, surrender, thrive, be happy, not worry.”

Well…

When I think about how I want to be, it definitely includes being generous, content, confident, pure, thriving, happy, and free from anxiety.

It does NOT include wallowing in wanting things I can’t have or don’t need.

And yet.

How do I change? Maybe I need to be intentional about what fills my mind. Too much YouTube TV with ads showing me things I “need.” Or too much Pinterest with cool ideas of ways to decorate, dress, diy, remodel…

Maybe for you it’s something totally different. But what is it that consumes you?

Maybe we should each think about a gratitude-o-meter. When I focus intently on all that I am thankful for, my joy-level rises and my poor-me-I-wish-I-had (fill in the blank) decreases.

Challenge: Think about what you are most thankful for. No matter all the stuff going on around you, choose something that is good and fixate on it. Then thank God for it. I will try to do this too.

PS. A shout-out to my wonderful momma who sends verses to her kids and grands every morning. These verses were what she sent out this morning and I just couldn’t move past them.💖