I want, I want, I need... - Bob Wylie

Tonight in reading I came to a passage in 1 Corinthians 9. the passage was all about the people benefiting from Christian workers, meeting the needs of that worker. That got me thinking about stuff. Let me be honest. I think I have the best job that in the world. The way I figure it, as Christians we all have an equal burden to share the gospel and do the work of the ministry. I just don’t have to do anything else (with the major exception of my other half time job driving huge blocks of steel all over the state). I am living in a dream world. I love my job.

But the question arises of what exactly needs means. I am not sure exactly but I know it means something different in our heads as it did in Paul’s when he writes this. In Paul's writing here he clearly defines needs as food and shelter. So my question is who decides on the needs that God is going to provide for us. Is it us, our culture or the biblical culture into which these passages were spoken. In this day and age few would argue that a person needs electricity, a few sets of clothes, a vehicle, a phone, and the list goes on and on. The problem with that is that there are many people in my own town that are missing one or more of the things mentioned above. I have just always heard it taught that if we honor God and are generous, that God would take real good care of us. I took that to mean living in a decent house, with cars and cable. But maybe the real prosperity of the gospel is found in food and shelter. That is what the word promises. My wife and I were talking the other day and acknowledged that our poverty has never affected our diet. We don’t consider ourselves rich, but if I look at it from others eyes, we have so much. Maybe that’s why we don’t constantly see God pouring out financial blessings. He doesn’t think we need it. Maybe God knows a humans needs better than I do. I will trust him in that.