What They Really Need

Single, 2 children, working full-time, barely paying the bills, no family support, struggling with depression, always stressed, always on edge, never able to give her children all of her self for she always feels spent, dead end job, broken relationships, hopeless heart- what does this person need? The pat answer is "she needs Jesus" and I won't for a moment disagree with that. But how specifically does Jesus help her?

There is this flat belief in NJ today that as long as a person has food, clothing and shelter they have all they need. It's not a spoken belief but it is a practiced one. As an example, I got to visit with Violet on Friday. Violet is 87 years only, she has lived in the same house for 51 years and by the looks of things she lives a pretty comfortable life. I would venture to say that 90% of the world's population would opt to trade places with Violet if they could. She's living in America in a comfortable house in a safe neighborhood with enough money to live on. What more could a person ask for? However Violet does not have all she needs to survive. At the end of our brief visit on Friday Violet broke down and cried because she is discovering that the tangibles are not all she needs.

Violet will probably die in the next few years not because of an illness; not because she does not have everything the body needs to live on; not even because old age has set in. Violet will die because of purposelessness, loneliness and despair. Violet's tears were tears of pain. She feels useless to her family and her society. Her daughter checks in on her to make sure she is eating but that's about it. Violet is a testimony to the fact that what mankind needs is not bread alone.
Mankind needs Jesus. But how? That statement means the world, but only if we see how it connects to our experience of the world.

First of all mankind needs Jesus because there's not a single one of us that could ever stand before God, look Him in the eyes and not have our faces instantly burnt off as a result. No one has ever seen their Maker and lived and for this reason we all need a Mediator. We all need Jesus. A go-between. Someone to present us to the Father unblemished and prepared for Him. We need the blood of Jesus. We need His redemption. We need His forgiveness. In the globalest sense of the phrase we need Jesus because there is no way to the eternal Father except through Jesus (Jn.14:6).

Secondly though, we need Jesus because of what Jesus alone provides on earth. The single lady mentioned above and Violet, my 87 year old friend, need the same thing. They need a family of believers to walk with. What Violet knows better than anybody right now is that we cannot live alone. But what happens when, like the single mother above, the family breaks down? A deeper question is "Why did her family break down in the first place?" It broke down because at least one person in the family, probably the father or whoever was the leader of the family, did not have Jesus. That person lived selfishly. He aborted his family. He did not crucify his will to the Father's but followed his own evil desires. As a result his whole family broke down under his poor leadership. History is filled with examples of the long seasons of drought families and whole nations have experienced at the expense of one leader who chose his own will above his Maker's.

Let's ask the same question of Violet. Why is Violet living alone and feeling purposeless? I think we could identify three likely reasons: 1) Her children may actually believe that all their mother needs is food, clothing and shelter and have not considered the higher needs of love and purpose she is needing. 2) Violet and her husband lived without Jesus and so broke down their family over time- resulting in #1 above. Or, 3) Violet's family say they follow Christ but are not considering what "honor your mother and father" (Ex.20:12) means for their context. If Jesus were placed into any or all of the 3 scenarios above Violet's problem would be solved. People who love Jesus know there is more to life than food, shelter and clothing. People who love Jesus seek to remove all obstacles to spiritual growth for their children instead of creating obstacle by their own behavior. People who love Jesus will honor their mother and father even when their parents are grouchy, rude, obnoxious and down-right hard to live with. Jesus is the answer for them all.

The Lord Jesus designed His church in such a way as to provide for the needs of every orphan, every widow, and every handicapped person if they will but bow to Jesus and live as a functioning member of His family. Jesus has provided a place in His kingdom for every person who humbly submits to His kingdom laws. Under loving shepherds each church can effectively meet the needs of one another if they will "submit to one another out of reverence for Christ" (Eph.5:21). In His church Jesus provides every believer with a family, an economic backing (Acts 2:40ff, Acts 4:32-37), a village from which to raise children, a mission to seek and save the lost ones, and the reaffirming hope that Jesus is returning soon to take us out of this broken world.

What the world needs straight up is Jesus. Jesus is the answer. Jesus has not come to make the world Heaven, but He has come to redeem those in the world so that they can be with Him in Heaven. Jesus said, "The poor you will always have with you" (Mt.26:11). Yes, so long as there are people on earth living for themselves instead of for Jesus, we will have the poor among us. There will always be people who do not follow their Maker and therefore there will always be the poor. But Jesus did not mean by this that we should ever have destitute church members. In fact "Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever" (1 Tim.5:8).

I need regular reminders that in all the chaos and complication of the world Jesus is still the answer.