Needing God: Part VI

But what does it truly mean to need God?

When I think about the word “need,” I consider it to mean “a necessity, a deprivation, something that absolutely required.”

The first aspect of human necessity is spiritual. On the most basic level, belief in God and an acceptance of Christ and His sacrifice is absolutely required. A rift was created by sin and the only remedy is to accept the provision, made by the only One who can bridge the gap. This inner need for God originated in the garden and was addressed and atoned for at Calvary.

This need is still present in every individual, waiting to be satisfied. I need God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit - the initiator of my salvation, my mediator, my guide, my teacher - the satisfier of all my needs.

But there is also another aspect to need - a natural need for God. This need infiltrates every aspect of who we are and what we do; we not only need God for salvation and complete spiritual health, but we need God to have complete emotional, physical, professional, financial, intellectual health as well.

We cannot separate our deep, fundamental spiritual need for God from the rest of our needs. All of the education that I have gained over the past years is nothing, is rubbish unless I have made the connection between my intellectual “learning” and my spiritual understanding.

What have I spent my time, energy, and money accumulating? Temporary, carnal, self-directed things that will burn up in the fire? Or have I understood that my inner need for God needs to fuel, supply, and direct my outer needs of God.

Have you ever heard someone infer that a Christian’s admission of their need of and for God was a sign of weakness? I have. What they don’t realize is that as humans it is a natural state of our humanity to need: when we are born, we need to be taken care of, we need food to grow, air to breathe, love to survive and thrive.

As much as this country was built on Christian principles, this country was also built up by and infused with a spirit of independence and rebellion. We come from a culture that looks down on the admission of need. Not only do we carry this cultural bias, but we carry our own individual bias against need that is formed by our environment and our experience.

Remember that sin and the lie of a half-truth about God and His Word will distort our perception and our judgments. Sin will turn a want into a need and will create its own set of rules and demands. Become aware of how influenced we are by our perceptions. We live either in the light of perceptions that are God-based and spirit-directed or in the shadow of our perceptions that are world-based and self-directed.

Oh, the power that perception can have over the way we live our lives. How do we perceive ourselves? Something as simple as saying me and God instead of me in God? Do you perceive that you are a body with a soul or are you a soul with a body? Just words, but they can reveal deep beliefs about who we perceive ourselves to be.

We need to separate ourselves from the remnants of our experience and bind ourselves to the truth that we are a new creation in Christ. I should glory in my need for God on every level and understand the impact of a life fully dependent on the Father for fulfillment, justification, and direction.

Do I need God? Desperately. In reality, will that need ever diminish? Never, but my perception of that need can.

Father-God, renew a steadfast spirit within me. I need You, Lord. Not just for eternal life in the unseen realm, but for life in the here and now.

Check out: Psalm 116