Skip to main content

Needs

 It is a sin to despise one’s neighbor, but blessed is the one who is kind to the needy. (Proverbs 14:21)


And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19)

 

          When some folks read this, they will perform the following mathematical equation: needy=lacking enough money (whatever enough means.) The problem is, while that is the most common equation, it’s not the only one. There are other things needy people may need even more than money:

Hope                    Love                     Joy              Peace

Patience                Kindness              Goodness    Faithfulness

Gentleness            Self-Control          Courage      Time

A listening ear       Encouragement     Mercy         A shoulder to cry on       

Discipline             A friend                A Break      Food

Water                   Perspective           Forgiveness Direction

Guidance              Notice                   Attention   

          The list goes on, I’m sure. Now, if you believe what Abram Maslow said, there is a hierarchy of needs and the lower levels must be met before the higher. So, the child of wealthy parents who doesn’t have to worry about material needs, but who is unloved, is still better off than the child of poverty who is loved and encouraged. The problem is, according to psychologists, the unloved rich kid may end up a psychopath or serial killer, while the loved poor kid may remain poor, or may improve his circumstances and is not likely to become a psychopath or serial killer.

          I’ve shared before about the experiment with the rats in vats of water, some in a dark room, others in the room with lights that allow the rats to see but not reach safety. The ones who have no reason to hope die quickly. The ones who have hope survive longer.

          I’m not suggesting that poverty isn’t horrible. Few of us can really imagine how horrible poverty is. I’m not suggesting that the poor person doesn’t need help. It is simply that to say that one doesn’t need, or doesn’t sense the need of things like love and hope because one does need and senses the need of shelter or food is wrong. The need for those “higher” things may be greater than the need for food and shelter.

          What this means is that it’s a sin to despise one’s neighbor’s needs, or to rank those needs according to some artificial hierarchy. A need is a need, and we all have them. Looking down on someone for needing is wrong, even if the need is also wrong. Our goal should be to either meet people’s needs or help them to change what it is they need to something that isn’t harmful to them (or anyone else.)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Way, The Truth, and The Life

              Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me . (John 14:6)           If “I am the gate of the sheep…I am the good shepherd” from chapter 10 is a double whammy, this verse is a triple whammy. And its first victim is the notion that any other so-called god was acceptable or the same as Jesus. He, and He alone is the way, the truth, and the life, and the only way to get to the Father. There is no other Savior, or Redeemer, according to Jesus. Now, to be fair, other religions will claim that their religion or god(s) are the only way. That is the nature of gods and of religions. If this and that are equally good and agree on what’s necessary, then this and that are the same thing, so there’s no need to from the other to one. If that’s the case, then why speak against the other or promote the one? There’s a song I’ve been listening to i...
Post a Comment
Read more