What to give the One who really does have everything
A few years ago, when Celine Dion learned that her husband Rene had cancer, she put her career on hold to be with him. During an appearance on Oprah she was asked how she could walk away from all the money and fame and gave this answer. “He put his hands on my face and said ‘I need you’ and that’s the first time in my life I’ve ever been needed. It’s got to be the most powerful motivator there is.”
She’s Just Like Her Father
As a student of human behavior, I was fascinated by her insight into motivation. As a student of the Bible, I was struck by this question. Is needing to be needed something we inherited from our Father?
For the answer, just look at all He’s done to make it possible for us to enter into His Presence. He literally had to create an entirely new race of mankind. “His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two (Jew and Gentile), thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.” (Ephe 2:15-16)
And it doesn’t end there. John wrote, To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God — children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God (John 1:12-13).
Paul described it this way. But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” (Galatians 4:4-6) And The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs–heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. (Romans 8:16-17)
So He didn’t just forgive us, which would have brought us peace in this world, and He didn’t just redeem us, which would have brought us life in the next one. He could have done these things and still kept His distance.
But no, He also gave us the authority to become His children. And then He legally adopted us into His family, put us in line to inherit His wealth, named us co-heirs with Jesus, and finally appointed us to rule and reign with Him over His Kingdom.
Why? Because He Needs Us
Being our Creator wasn’t enough for Him. His Love longed for expression, but when sin entered the world His Justice demanded payment first. He couldn’t just let us be lost to sin, he had to provide a way back. He needed us, as every father needs his children, and the only way to bring us back was to solve the sin problem and to pay all our debt. He knew we could never do it ourselves, and so when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Paul used the word sons here instead of children, because in his time only male children could inherit. But it’s clear that both male and female are included.
And so to me it’s obvious that He needs us and He needs for us to need Him. What else do we have that He’s lacking? Why else go to such extremes?
I believe He truly wants to be our Father and for us to be His children. For God does not want that any should perish, but for all to come to repentance (2 peter 3:9) And although He permits us to act independently, His preference is for us to remain voluntarily dependent upon Him for everything.
It’s such a tragedy
One of the great tragedies about sin is that it drives us away from Him. But please understand; it doesn’t drive Him away from us. The sin problem has already been handled from His perspective. You need only confess to be forgiven and the sin forgotten. You may still experience the earthly consequences of your behavior, but involuntary estrangement from God is never one of them. He needs you. 1-2-00