7 * 7 - feel the need

Psalm 106:6 "Like our ancestors, we have sinned. We have done wrong.We have acted wickedly"

I was out with some coworkers and the subject of church came up, when one person was talking about a funeral they had recently been to. None of the people sitting with me regularly go to church or would consider themselves affiliated with any sort of faith. The person reviewed the pastor's summary of the need for being a christian as "if you want to be happy, you need to be a christian." The coworker of mine  reviewed his thought process, saying, "I have a good job, I'm a nice person, I have a nice family - we live in a nice house and drive nice cars - my life is good, why would I need to be a christian to be happy?"

I will be the first to admit how clueless I felt in that moment. There was no 60 second response to address his question, which basically could be summarized as "why do I need Jesus?". Now I'm not sure if the pastor actually equated christianity with happiness, but there are plenty of churches in American teaching the "health and wealth gospel". "Good things will happen to good people, so be a christian and your life will turn out right." Not only is this not true, but it is often very much the opposite of what is true. Books have been written lately specifically about how damaging this philosophy has been to the American church. We have equated christianity to karma and focused on our consumer perspective of "what is in it for me?". Whenever we put christianity in terms of "what God can do for us" we run a very narrow line of straying too far the gift of God's salvation and the blessing of His presence to the unbiblical view that God owes us gifts to make us happy. We also run into a danger of having to "sell" christianity to others, feeling like we must convince others that they WANT to be a christian because of all they can receive.

The truth is we NEED God's salvation because we are all lost without it. As the verse here (and many other places) says "we have sinned". We cannot answer the question "why do I need Jesus?" without first examining our own hearts and lives. If I use modern societies definition of happiness and a good life, it is quite possible to argue that I don't need Jesus. If I am accountable only to myself and live to satisfy my desires, I can easily see that I don't need Jesus. If here and now are the only things that matter and there is no judgement than the basic moral code is plenty to guide my life and there is no higher authority or standard to live up to. These basic premises are exactly why we have a nation that 71% will say they believe in God, but 70% of American's also say there are many paths to salvation.  (click here for some other very interesting stats on religious views in America) And, with only 30% thinking the bible is true, saying "the bible said so" is not going to be the most convincing argument to most people.

There is a huge disconnect between our actual need and felt need of God, even in believers. Frequently our prayer life goes up in trouble, but down in good times. Our praise of the Lord increases when we are happy but decreases when things are hard. These reactions show the subtle ways that true believers can drift towards the cultural response to God - He is only there to make me happy. But we only need to look right below the surface to see our sin. If I consider just one day - the number of unkind words I thought (but didn't say) or temptations to lie to make myself look better or any other sins that plague my existence, I can see how fallen my heart is and the constant wrestling between my corrupt heart and the Spirit who lives in me. If we simply compared our own lives using the same standard we use to judge everyone else, we would see our sin. And when we start seeing ourselves for who we truly are, our need becomes a lot more apparent.

Now, that still requires me to also believe that there is a higher standard than myself, but that is easy to find - I feel it everyday. Guilt. And there are tons of people walking around that aren't christians who are wrestling with guilt. We all feel the weight of a standard we can't meet. We were created in the image of God and there is an inherent knowledge both of His glory and our sin. But we must be willing to look into our hearts to see it. With the easy cultural philosophy of equating God with Santa Claus and making myself king of my life, I would never have reason to seek and find Him.

But wise men seek Him still. And if I want to grow in my faith, I must seek Him out daily and dare to see His standard and my shortcomings. And then, in that moment when I see my sin, I experience His amazing grace. Then I can say with confidence that I need Jesus - not for a happy life - but for life itself, because I receive every breath from Him - both now and for ever.

Feel the need and experience His grace. Grace that is greater than all our sin.