I’ve returned to Indianapolis recently to live, work and to be part of the body of believers here. I’ve opted out of the free ride and decided to put myself in a posture of need; need for a computer and need for a job/income I could live off of that would allow for a September (extending into October) faith-based stint in Europe. It might be laughable. In this economy? With this job market? HA
Well, I think I made God smile when He heard me say, “I cannot do this, but You can”.
Americans need jobs now, but why need when you can choose not to? It’s like asking: “If you’re hungry and the food is set before you, why wouldn’t you choose to eat it?” Let’s move into a paradigm shift for a second that traverses our conditioned understanding of this world.
For example:
We need work because…
We work for what we need. Our needs met help us survive. That is good. Our paradigm gets this.
But — We need ‘need’ in a relationship with God because…
We need God and to eliminate ‘need’ is to nullify how we relation with God. Need is at the core of our doing anything physical (speaking mostly secularly), so for those of us believers in Christ, why wouldn’t we parallel this spiritually to our lives? Our paradigm does not get this.
I suspect because stating a ‘core’ implies a universal constant for all humans, and outside of the recognized physical ones, spiritual absolutes labelled ‘core’ or otherwise, does not amalgamate with the thought of this age. It comes down to this: to put your reliance [faith] in something or someone other than yourself to get what you need, is considered a number of things. These are a few — weak, stupid, impractical, childish, thoughtless, ignorant, etc. I say again — we don’t cease to work, but we cease to strive for our own, on our own. I consider that thought of our age an incubator for hopelessness, heartlessness and ultimately faithlessness in even ones own self. But let’s look at the thought of our age ‘a la imagery’. We like short lines in grocery stores, at the restaurant, in traffic, as well as in our thinking. Short lines in our linear thinking is considered good. So the shorter the line (shorter the scenario) to get what you need, the better. Is this not so?
I generalize in that statement, but the overarching mindset of this nation is not in accordance with posturing ourselves as one in need. Let’s not be mistaken. Too many a people have misused that posture in the name of ‘need’, and that posture is not what I’m referring to. Efforts must be taken, decisions must be made, the biggest of all is the decision to choose the riskier and narrower path which leads to His voice. I say to His voice, because the Lord’s Spirit helps us discern a step like this from some ascetic value in our flesh that appears holy but is not for the name of Christ. However, need is not need without work and work is not work without need. We work because we need something and not always for physical attainment. And when we need, we CHOOSE the work/to work to bring fulfillment of the need. That is cyclical. This is cyclical thinking. It does not end. A relationship is cyclical — give and take, talk and listen — and the choice to keep it cyclical is KEY. Hopefully it remains cyclical so that it does not end like its linear counterpart. Because we’re human, we’re always in some kind of need. We’ll always be in need of God but choosing to take the posture in right relationship with Him is the tricky part. This is all to say, the Lord provided a used laptop and a job for me. Not only a job but a job I’m excited for! This is despite the odds and opposite posture ‘noising’ in my ear saying, ‘You don’t know what could happen, why don’t you think this over?’ Post-world race I will still pray past that and remember that although my need doesn’t stop, He never changes. That I can trust in.
