When our two girls were younger, there were three songs my wife, Kim, and I sang constantly in our home in order to teach them the message and values of our Christian faith. The third most popular song was “I Am Jesus’ Little Lamb.” The second was “Jesus Loves Me, This I Know.” But the most frequently heard song in the Novotny home was, by far, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” by The Rolling Stones.  

If you’re a parent, you know why we sang that song. Because our kids were addicted to “I want!” We could give them everything they needed—food, clothing, love, safety—but if they didn’t get what they wanted, they turned into little demon-possessed emotional terrorists who punched, scratched, and hated their parents! So Kim and I kept singing that song: “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.”

That’s even more important to remember with your relationship with God. It isn’t bad to want good grades, good friends, good health, good weather, a good government, and a good life. But it is essential to remember the difference between what we might want and what we truly need. What we need is God’s love, God’s forgiveness, and God’s mercy. Thankfully, whether we get some/most/all/none of what we want, in Jesus we always get what we need.

“‘Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one’” (Luke 10:41,42). You need God. Through Jesus, you always get him.