One thing I have discovered about myself is a tendency to want to be needed by others.
Whether it is my students or coworkers needing my help with something,
my friends or family seeking me out to do things together, or my church family
asking me to help out with different ministries - I like to feel like I am
needed and that I have something to offer to others. Our
hearts are so deceitful and full of pride that serving others can easily become
more about boosting our own ego than glorifying God and pointing others to Him. Thus, all too often we wait to serve until we
feel that we are really needed, and if we never feel needed then we never serve
or reach out to others.
As I was reflecting on Psalm 63 recently (which just happens
to be one of my favorite passages in the Bible), I was reminded yet again that
God not only desires to be needed by us, but He is also the only Being who can
truly satisfy any of our needs! We were
created for Him, and to seek to have our needs ultimately met in another is
nothing short of idolatry! Therefore, in my desire to be needed by others, I must
consider carefully whether I am really putting myself in the place of God in
their lives. This is a serious thing,
for God will not tolerate being dethroned (Is. 42:8; 48:11).
Instead, I must be quick to point others to Christ as the
only One who can satisfy them and fulfill their needs. I also have to be daily made more aware of
my own need for Christ and for others who will help point me to Him, and not get
offended or feel threatened when my needs are exposed. The beautiful reality is that we are more
effectively able to point others to Christ by being open and transparent about
our own desperate need for His grace than by looking like we have it all together.
If I want to be an effective witness for
Christ, I must be humble enough to let others see someone completely in need of
grace and living daily in dependence upon my Savior. The Christian life is not about striving to be acceptable before God in my own strength, but about recognizing that I need Another who stood in my place to provide His righteousness on my behalf and daily clothes me with His power!
If I am looking to Christ daily as the One Who sustains me and am being filled up by Him, then I will be able to overflow into
the lives of others and serve them, not in order to feel good about myself or because I feel like I am needed, but
out of love for the One Who is completely satisfying and a desire that others
would know Him and be filled with Him as well!
Do I feel my need for God’s grace each day? Do I recognize how completely needy I am? Do I look to Him alone to fulfill my every
need and faithfully reach out to others in order to point them to Christ?
“For You have been my help, and in the
shadow of Your wings I sing for joy. My
soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me.” Ps. 63:7-8
“But we have this treasure in earthen
vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not
from ourselves; we are afflicted in
every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted,
but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always
carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also
may be manifested in our body.”
2 Cor.
4:7-10
