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A Super-Sized Definition of Need
Recently, I was reading about Japanese sumo wrestlers. (Touching base with my heritage a little.) If you are familiar with sumo wrestlers, they gain hundreds of pounds. These men are huge. And they do this by eating massive amounts of food. They train their bodies not to feel full. They literally stretch their stomachs, massaging their intestines to make room for food. Isn't that gross? They reset their definition of a normal meal so they can gain hundreds of pounds.
In a similar way, our definition of need, when it comes to possessions, is completely out of proportion. We're like those sumo wresters that have redefined their needs so that we can take in more and more. Our definition of need has been super-sized by our culture of consumption.
So we think that we need not only to eat, but to eat food that we love, and preferably to eat out. We think that we not only need to be clothed, but to wear the latest fashion and have five of everything. We think we need more than just a roof over our heads. We want a bigger house, with a big yard. We think we need multiple cars, four-wheel drive vehicles to drive on paved roads.
And the list could go on and on.
I'll be honest with you, when I read Jesus' promise in Luke 12 to provide for my needs by feeding me like a raven and clothing me like a flower, my heart doesn't leap for joy. I feel like a sumo wrestler who has been given a salad for dinner. You see my heart and my values need to be adjusted by God's Word. My definition of need needs to come into line with Jesus's definition.
One of the potential spiritual benefits of an economic recession is that as we tighten our budgets, as we change our lifestyle, we can actually begin getting a clearer picture of what we actually need. We have a lot more than we really need. We have so much to be thankful for. We have so many opportunities to be generous and share. There's so much that we can do without. Seize this as an opportunity to have your need-o-meter reset.
The above is from my sermon Don't Worry...Seek the Kingdom. And here are more quotes along with outlines of my sermons on the recession compiled by my friend Tony Reinke.
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Comments (8)
Great post - thanks for writing it! It's interesting to read this while living in a Chicago neighborhood where we're surrounded by a lot of genuine need. I can totally relate to the "super-sized needs" having grown up in those churches and communities - and I even see it here. Crazy that we're so physically close (well a lot closer than Africa or India) and yet worlds apart. Some people here in Chicago even have super-sized needs. It's easy to volunteer once or twice a year at soup kitchens and clothing banks and genuinely feel bad for the folks who don't have five outfits and can't afford organic food. I'd challenge you to drop in for dinner with an immigrant family at the Spanish-speaking church down the street sometime and find out what kinds of needs they have. You might be surprised to find that not only do you have more than you need, but there's a lot you can give. Just my two cents. :)
Posted by Jeremy | January 24, 2009 12:30 PM
Apart from being totally grossed out by the picture to the point that I had to scroll down because I couldn't concentrate on what you were trying to say...
This post is so timely in my own life. My husband and I have spent the last year, after being inspired by Piper's Desiring God (particularly chapter 7), trying to live a wartime lifestyle. I'd say we have failed in some major ways and succeeded in others. One thing we do know though, is it can't be done outside of community. We even started a new blog to find like-minded people to discuss what a wartime lifestyle looks like.
Posted by Jennifer S | January 24, 2009 12:35 PM
This was a really effective analogy! The visual definitely makes our "super-sized" needs seem less than appealing...
I just gave a talk on contentment, and in the course of studying and preparing came to a new understanding/definition of needs vs. wants: "Contentment is recognizing that our sufficiency is found in Christ alone. He is all that we truly need. When we recognize this, we can endure the loss of anything and everything, because He will never leave us or forsake us."
We petition God for what we think we need, but then trust Him to give us what He knows we truly need (which may be the lack of the very thing that we think we need) in order to draw our hearts to Himself.
Thanks for a helpful post. I just came across your blog recently and have been enjoying reading it!
Posted by Natalie Wickham | January 24, 2009 11:29 PM
Joshua,
This is the kind of thing we US Evangelicals need! Thanks for the reality check.
We could learn alot from the saints of old who lived in bad economic times and yet tithed as much as 80% of there income in various ways.
If you think you can't live without, you should read some biographies of former men and women of God.
Hudson Taylor and George Muller are 2 good ones to start with.
Posted by David Hartman | January 24, 2009 11:46 PM
Whining of a fallen economy, we greedily stuff ourselves and plug our hearts against the plight of our brothers and sisters in Gaza. We deign not to stretch out a pudgy hand lest it be soiled with blood. We cloister ourselves within a prehistoric religion, performing irrelevant rituals in great piety without thought to how Jesus lived and served when he walked the earth. We take pride in seperation from the world, deaf to our brothers' blood screaming from the ground. Great God! I fall on my face and weep.
Posted by Vic | January 26, 2009 1:37 AM
Fantastic post!
My perspectives have changed after seeing how people live in other parts of the world. We often don't realize just how wealthy we are.
Posted by Kevin in Manila | January 26, 2009 8:06 PM
This is outstanding. I look forward to listening to the teaching from which it came. Thank you for such a redemptive perspective on the economy.
Posted by laurie | January 29, 2009 6:58 PM
Having had a Gastric Bypass in Dec 2005, I've had to learn to do with less food... Having been sick and out of a job since June last year, I've learned to do with less... and still I enjoy my life and look forward to going back to work... As a nurse I've met a lot of people that are worse off than I am, and through travelling as a nurse, God brought me to Covenant Life last year to be saved and to be Baptized before I had to go back to NC. Thank You for all your work and your joy in the Christian life. And Thank God for the Podcast from CLC as I still haven't found a good church in NC to go to, so I listen to your podcasts on Sunday!
Posted by Martine Rorik | February 1, 2009 12:08 PM