Setting Up House

Mike and I have been officially “moved in” to our new townhouse for almost two weeks.  It has been tons of fun enjoying the process of making our little house into a home. 

Over these last two weeks I have noticed a new temptation creeping into my mind and life. All of a sudden, the volume of stuff that “I need” has just increased. “I need” those ice cube trays that make the little cubes instead of the big ones.  “I need” some more pictures to fill up my wall.  How can I possibly keep my flour and sugar in their original bags?  “I need” some new storage containers.  You get the picture.

Really it’s not the “I needs” but the “I wants”—the subtle trap of materialism.

How quickly I forget the Lord’s kindness in giving us this townhouse when we were competing with three other contracts.  How ungrateful my heart can be, even as I unpack box after box of material possessions.  I live in such wealth and prosperity, but what can often occupy my mind is my “need” for more pillows to liven up my couch. 

Matthew 6:19-21 is a fresh reminder to me of what truly matters:

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

I know that it is not wrong for me to want more pictures on my wall or more pillows on my couch, but it is wrong when that desire becomes a demand ("I need").  It is sinful when I become ungrateful for all that the Lord has given me.  How kind and gracious of the Lord to give me His Word to correct me in my sin. This excerpt from a prayer in The Valley of Vision helps redirect my thoughts away from what I need to happiness in serving God:

“O Lord, help me never to expect any happiness from the world, but only in thee.  Let me not think that I shall be more happy by living to myself, for I can only be happy if employed for thee.”   

Arthur Bennett, ed. The Valley of Vision (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2002), 304.