We Need People

As creatures, we have needs. One of our needs is for other people. It has been said we have been created with a God shaped hole, but we also have a person shape hole. In the beginning of creation, God creates everything good. He pronounces everything good until in Genesis 2:18 he says, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suited to him.” Then God creates woman. This passage certainly points to marriage, but it also points to our fundamental need for other human beings. It is not good for us to be alone.

Here are some of the ways we need people.

1. Touch - We first and foremost need people for physical touch. If we are not held and touched when we are first born, we can die that is how bad we need touch. This need for touch does not go away.

2. To be understood – You and I have a fundamental need to be understood. We need to know that someone understands our perspective. Being understood connects us to other people.

3. Acceptance – We not only have a need for another person to understand us, but then to go further and accept us for our warts and weaknesses. Andy Stanley notes that acceptance paves the way to influence. It paves the way because it meets a deep need in us.

4. Spiritual growth – We grow in character through our relationships with other people. We learn to love by loving other people and putting up with their warts and weaknesses. The New Testament is full of instructions for spiritual growth that require relationships.

Those are a few ways in which we need people. What are some other ways you recognize your need for other human beings?