Let’s face it, we
hate needing anything. From as early as we develop our ability to do something
on our own, we often hate depending on others to help us. I remember quite
clearly wanted to button up my own jacket, tie my own shoes, often revolting in
my childish protest of “I can do it myself!” How about the times I couldn’t do
it myself, the times I failed? Well, it would be a humbling moment where I
would sheepishly swallow my pride and in defeat ask “can you help me with
this?” The funny thing is we often would like to think we have outgrown such
childish tendencies, but have we really? I think we let people help us out of
kindness often. We don’t mind letting people help us when we know we could
probably get along without them, we give them an opportunity to bless us
because we know it feels good to help people, but we hate the feeling of need.
When we need someone else, truly and desperately, we feel embarrassed. We hate
needing anyone. But the reality is, need
is a beautiful thing. Only in need are
we truly vulnerable, truly bare. Only in need can we truly love. Think of the
love that exists between a child and parents, the need of a frightened child to
return to the arms of his parents, that’s ‘Need-Love’. C.S. Lewis describes Need-Love as essential,
that in reality we all need one another, we are created to be in relationship
after all. He continues to describe that failure to see our need for ‘Need-
Love’ and the misleading feeling that we
are not in need of anyone as a “bad spiritual symptom; just as lack of appetite
is a bad medical symptom because men do really need food.” We are not sufficient on our own, but man do
we love to act like we are. Often times we approach God in the same manner, we
position our lives so we don’t really need God, cause heaven forbid we would
ever be in a place where we needed to depend on God daily, right? Yeah that was
sarcastic, but seriously, I find that I do that in my life often. I often pray
selfish prayers where I want God to give me answers, like a road map or a 5
year plan so that I won’t need him.
Because if we’re honest with ourselves the idea of stepping out day by
day, relying on him moment by moment is terrifying, but beautiful at the same
time. Needing God is a beautiful thing,
when we need Him we run to Him, we cling to Him and we are in that moment able
to abide in Him, just like a frightened child. C.S. Lewis continues to say
that: “Man approaches God most nearly when he is in one sense least like God.
For what can be more unlike than fullness and need, sovereignty and humility,
righteousness and penitence, limitless power and a cry for help?” I can look
back on my life and see the moments I needed God the most, the moments I
approached his throne as a humbled beggar, the moments I fell on my knees and cried
out desperately to Him, were the moments I found myself nearest to His heart,
most satisfied in Him. God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied
in Him, but we will never be satisfied in Him if we think or we act like we can
be satisfied without Him. If we build our lives, our families, our ministries
and our churches, in such a way where we are sufficient and seem to lack
nothing, we are bringing on disease to ourselves. We must recognize the gravity
of this. As foolish as a patient with chronic heart condition who fails to see
a need for daily treatment, are we when we fail to see our hearts’ spiritual
chronic condition and seek its treatment. The result is deadly in both,
arguably more for the latter. We must see our need. Our hearts need daily treatment, they are
desperately sick yet tragically too proud to admit it. Our need for God, like a
child’s need for their parent doesn’t center around the good of the parent, but
rather that of the child; drawing nearer to God results in our ultimate good.
The truth is we desperately need God; so we need to stop trying to get our
lives, our families, our ministries, our churches, to a place where we don’t.
We need to stop seeing God showing up as a bonus and see it for what it is,
Essential.
Therefore, brothers,since we have confidence to
enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus,by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and
since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us
draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the
confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.
Hebrews 10: 19 -23
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