The Need to Need
What do you need God to do for you today? If you have to think hard about the answer, there's a problem. We need to need.
One way to nurture need is to give what you have away.
But isn't giving losing? Absolutely not.
Your accountant makes calculations based on gains and losses, plusses and minuses. God works with a completely different equation. The only way to gain is to lose. On paper, it won't make sense. But it's written repeatedly on the pages of the Bible.
For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Matthew 16:25
Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you."
Luke 6:38-39
Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts.
Malachi 3:10-11
One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want. Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.
Proverbs 11:24-25
What your accountant sees as a minus, God calculates as multiplication.
People who give experience the joy of needing God. Life is too much for them. The need is too great for them. Givers are not wealthy, they are needy. And the world needs more of them.
What God Did for Doug
I have a friend named Doug. Someone gave him $50 one year and challenged him to give it away at Christmas. He was deeply moved by the experience. Someone had given Doug the joy of giving, and it became contagious to him.
The next year he and his wife saved up $250 in a spare change jar and gave it away. They received even more joy from the experience than the previous year.
The next year they saved $500. The next, $1000. And they gave it all away!
This past Christmas God called them not to double it, but to do even more. God called them to save $4000 and give it away. The math didn't add up. Doug couldn't afford it. But then God put into the equation a calculation that only He can make. It is a remarkable story.
Doug had a need! It's what we all need. Doug needed God to do what only God can do. Doug was in need. And that's where the joy of generosity truly begins. Hear Doug's story for yourself by watching the video below.
Bible Study
Read Mark 10:17-31.
- Compare the rich man's confidence in his righteousness expressed in Mark 10:20 to what the Bible says in Romans 3:10 or Romans 3:23. How was his answer misguided?
- Read Ephesians 2:8-10. Jesus was not telling the man he would earn salvation if he gave his stuff away. But what did Jesus' instruction reveal about the man's relationship to his stuff?
- What does this passage teach us about salvation?
Challenge
Let me restate the opening question. What is something you need God to do today? If you are struggling with that question, what could you do to create need? Ask God to lead you to do something for Him that is way bigger than you.
If you have a great need. Ask 2-3 people to agree with you in prayer about that need. Begin to journal your thoughts, how God leads, and look for answers to your prayer.
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