Are We Designed to Want as Humans?

As human beings, are we designed to want?  If so, why?  Why am I and a lot of other people I know in a constant state of WANT?  As a follower of Christ when I read Timothy I am filled with HOPE.  I am hopeful and inspired and I long for what Paul describes as contentment.  

1 Timothy 6:6-11 says this,  “But godliness with contentment is great gain.  For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.  But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.  Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

My heart goes out to the people of Houston, Texas.  This sort of tragedy is something I hope no one would have to go through.  People have lost their clothing, their homes, their FAMILY.  On NPR today I heard a woman from Houston being interviewed and here’s a line from what she said, “We don’t have electricity, water, toilets to flush.  But we’re breathing, and I’m thankful for that!”  In the midst of all this destruction and loss, she is THANKFUL.  Thankful to be alive.  How inspiring is that?  She doesn’t even have water, one of the most basic necessities and she is still thankful.  This woman has obviously read 1 Timothy.  She has accepted that she brought nothing into this world, therefore she can take nothing out of it.  So why, including myself, hasn’t the rest of the world?

 Why is our guts, heads, hearts telling us to keep wanting, to keep buying, to keep longing for something other than what we have?  For more.  Not just in a materialistic way, either.  We all long and want for different things whether it’s a person, item, or feeling.  And yet, when we receive what we wanted or thought we wanted we are still unsatisfied and we want more, we want something else. Why?  Why do we think these fillers will make us happy?  Or do we just hope they will?  

Even as an aspiring minimalist I want things all the time!  I want a coffee when we go out, I want clothes to present myself a certain way, cars, homes, more time, more me time, more everything.  I certainly try to stop regularly and ask myself “Why do i want this?” “Will this make me happy?” “Will I get more than a couple days of enjoyment out of it or a couple hours?”.  But more often than not I ignore those questions because I want the immediate gratification of that coffee, or top, or anything from shop that will only clutter up surfaces and then my mind and take my time to clean and take care of.  People this is an ENDLESS cycle! Why can’t we stop?

Normally I end anything I write with answers of what I think would help or fix, but this topic has me completely at a loss.  I am, however, open to hearing your thoughts on why we want as humans.  Were we designed to want?  Were we designed to fill our lives with things, unneeded things, until we realize what will give us true happiness?  I don’t know. 

Paul ends with an order to Timothy, “But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.”  What if we took Paul’s advice here and pursued righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness rather than pursuing money, things, fillers of our voids?  What would it look like to pursue these instead?