CAMPBELLTON, New Brunswick, March 4, 2024 – What are your needs? As a born-again believer, you have needs like everyone else, but what are they?

The answer might surprise you. Here are your needs: Enough food and water to keep you alive for the day, sufficient heat to keep your body warm, breathable air, and sufficient sleep. Jesus even did without the need for food and water for 40 days and nights, as did Moses when he was on Mount Sinai. Funny, that, how they could live so long without food or water when allegedly (according to scientists) you die within a few days without hydration. How did they manage to stay alive without water? Were they both fibbing about their fast?

What did Jesus himself say about needs? He said “seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and everything you need will be given to you”. He didn’t say that everything you want will be given to you (prosperity preachers, I’m talking to you!). He didn’t say everything that would be nice to have would be given to you. No, he said “everything you need”.

So again I ask you – what are your needs?

We need to know what our needs are and to be satisfied with having those satisfied, because if we don’t know what our needs are, the devil is going to tempt us into wanting more than we need, and that’s when the trouble starts.

Coveting is as much of an issue today as it was back in Moses’ day when the Command not to covet was given to us. To covet means to want something you don’t need. It’s a lot like greed. The devil is having a field day capitalizing on people’s covetousness, which is why you see so many obese people, so many divorced people, so many people in jail, and so many people in debt from mortgages, credit cards, and other loans. Sell people the idea that their wants are their needs and that they deserve whatever they want, and you’ll have a fat, lustful, indebted nation that’s overlain with a spirit of entitlement. Such a nation is actually just a slave to its debtors.

A slave is not free.

Born-again believers have no business enslaving themselves in any way, including through credit card or mortgage debt. If you have to borrow money to buy something, you don’t need it; you may want it, but you don’t need it. Let that be your rule of thumb when it comes to money.

Our needs, as followers of Jesus, are surprisingly few – food and water to last the day, temperature sufficient to keep our body warm, breathable air, and a good night’s sleep. One way or another, our needs will be provided so that we can focus solely on doing Kingdom work and serving God, not doing slave work and serving the devil. Our reward is in Heaven, not here. Let us for our time here be satisfied with having our needs satisfied and be grateful for that. The instant we want more than we need, we turn from God ever so slightly; if we act on that want, we turn from God even farther.

The world will tell you that your needs are nearly infinite, but Jesus will tell you that your needs are modest and few. The world wants you to endlessly covet and focus on making money, but Jesus invites you to focus entirely on the Kingdom, assuring you that in so doing your needs will be met.

Who will you heed?