WANTS VS. NEEDS

by Molly Noble Bull

            I was once a shopaholic.

            Yep, it’s true. I found nothing more exciting than going in stores to see what was new, and I thought “just looking” was so much fun. Trouble was, I kept buying things I hadn’t planned to buy when I “went looking” and our bank account suffered as a result.

            Just looking can be a lonely business unless you take a friend along to look with you. However, I had a hard time getting my friend, Mary, to go with me. She asked things like—why would I want to go shopping unless there are things my family and I need? 

            I’d never thought of shopping or balancing my checkbook as a matter of wants and needs. But suddenly, I wondered. Was Mary right? Was there a difference? 

            The Lord’s Prayer says, give us this day our daily bread. But it doesn’t say a word about daily cupcakes, candy, cookies or pie. Ice cream? Nope. What about magazines and shock newspapers at the check out counter of the grocery store? Nope again.  

            I decided to make a list of things we really needed. My partial list is below.

Money for:

.   Rent or house payment

.   Food (daily bread)

.   Car payment 

.   Gasoline and car repair

.   Utilities

.   Doctor bills

Clothing is needed too but should be purchased only after much thought.

            All at once I realized I needed to put another item at the top of my list, an item that made my budget actually work. Can you guess what that missing item is? I will give you a hint. It begins with the letter T.

Yep. T stands for tithe as in giving to the Lord. Here is my new list.

.   Tithe

.   Rent or house payment

.   Food (daily bread)

.   Car payment 

.   Gasoline and car repair

.   Utilities

.   Doctor bills

Clothing is needed too but should be purchased only after much thought.

I discovered that in order for my budget to balance, I had to give to the Lord monthly. Yet with Grace, I didn’t have to give God anything. So let me change “had to” to wanted to. As a Christian, I wanted to please God. I wanted to give to His mission to go to all the world and preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

As a result of tithing, I learned to pick and choose when I went shopping, sorting my purchases into wants and needs. Now I try to buy things on my needs list first. Then if there is money left, sometimes I also buy some wants.