When God gives us what we need

    Recently my family and I were on our summer vacation at a Christian retreat center and I decided to grab a Gold Peak sweet tea out of the vending machine before the speaking session. The man in front of me pressed the button for a Mountain Dew and to his surprise a Diet Coke came out instead.
     “Aw man, it gave me what I needed not what I wanted,” he turned around and said to me.
     I smiled and empathized with him, offering my extra change.
     “No, it’s okay. I’ll just take it anyway,” he said reluctantly.
     As I went to carefully press the buttons for my tea, I thought about his words and how true they were in our spiritual lives.
     Jesus is concerned about what we need more than what we want. In fact, our wants, desires and cravings can often lead us down a path of unnecessary pain, hurt and tears: Coveting something that is not ours to the point of our family’s ruin, desiring the latest fad that only leaves us feeling empty, overindulging in sugar that gives us exhaustion and an expanded waistline, and more.
     Jesus is the one able to give us more than we can think of or imagine. He is more than a quick fix but offers us everlasting joy and peace because he is the Living Water. What we see and long for here on earth barely scratches the beauty and majesty of the abundant life that he says he offers us today and into eternity. He knows what our soul needs most and it is Christ alone. Nothing more. Nothing added. No substitutes. Not Jesus +          (you fill in the blank).

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