Needy

I am starting a new topic today, which you can tell from the subject is called “Needy.” This is a concept that has been coming back to me from time to time and now is the time to write about it. Humans are creatures. We have been created and all created things have needs. We have needs if we are to simply survive and we have needs if we are to thrive.

Our needs can be used for good or for bad. We have a need for food and sustenance. That need will either drive us to eat healthy food or to fill our stomachs with junk food that may satisfy our hunger pangs but not really meet our basic need. We have a need for intimacy. Either that need can drive us to healthy relationships or to unhealthy habits or to use manipulation. Using our needs against us is one of the basic tools of the devil to tempt us towards evil. The first temptation Jesus faced was to turn stones into bread. He was tempted to meet a real need in an immoral way. On the other hand, God in story after story and teaching after teaching tries to pound it into our thick skulls that if we place our trust in him, then he will meet our needs.

As tough as many people want to sound, I so often hear neediness as an excuse to do what is wrong. People will lie, cheat, steal or justify some action of that kind because they need to make a buck and they have no other choice and they are just living in reality. In order to live a Christ centered life and as true disciples, we have to come face to face with our needs. We have to acknowledge our real needs. We humbly have to acknowledge our needs and then trust in our heavenly Father to meet them. It is that simple and that difficult.

Often what happens is we either deny our needs or we try to satisfy our needs with something that really doesn’t fit. The image that comes to my mind is when a little kid tries to put a square block in a star shaped whole.

Another problem is that we fail to grasp our hierarchy of needs and make lesser needs the most important. Our most important need is really for God, but we will put other things ahead of him. We also misunderstand desires for need. Many things we think we need are really just desires or appetites we must learn to discipline.

Our neediness will either work for us or against us. God intends that our neediness drive us to him and to a greater trusting relationship with him. The devil tries to leverage our neediness away from God. So much of success in our spiritual life comes from understanding this battle going on.

What would you characterize as our most important needs?