You Need Jesus

The 2023 Spirit & Truth conference is almost a full week behind me and I find I am still standing in the wake of its effects. Yesterday was a particularly tender day as my colleagues can tell you when I spontaneously began to cry in the middle of recording an episode of the S&T podcast. People who’ve known me for a while would tell you that kind of thing simply does not happen to me very often. As I sat there futilely trying to remain composed, I realized I was trying to hold back a tidal wave of unprocessed thoughts and emotions. In the immediate moments after big God-encounters, or major life events– I often don’t have words to describe my feelings or thoughts until days later. In this case, it just so happens that “days later” was inconveniently in the middle of my work day. 

As I sniffled my way through the rest of my work day, and then finally ugly-cried in the privacy of my bedroom (it was a lot of crying y'all) a thought began to surface.

It was a simple sentence; one I’ve agreed with many times when spoken to me, one I’ve spoken many times to others. I felt the Lord say in my spirit:

You need me. 

I know I need the Lord. I imagine you know you need him as well. But this time the awareness of my need was…different. I don’t know that I can articulate it perfectly here, but encompassed within the statement, “You need me,” was also the assurance that I had him, and that nothing else was required. Not only was nothing else required, he created the need and therefore nothing but Jesus can satisfy that need. 

 Often, at least this is true for me, when someone says “I need the Lord” it’s spoken in the sense of needing more of him in a particular area of my life. As if our lives are plates that we fill with our favorite side dishes and entrees and sprinkling a little Jesus over everything enhances the flavor of what we’ve decided to cook up. If work is a little bland– just add a little Jesus. If our marriages need some spice– add a little Jesus. If our prayer lives need something fresh– add in some more Jesus. 

But this is completely backward, isn’t it? Christ isn’t the additive that enhances what we bring to the table. He is the meal that fills and satisfies our hungry, empty, needy, bodies and makes us what we were always meant to be. Only Christ can soothe our human appetites and save us from starvation. 

I saw this awareness wash over the people who attended the conference last week. As I watched people at the altar I was reminded of the woman who washed the feet of Christ with her tears and kissed his feet. She knew her lowly state, she knew from where her Lord had delivered her. She rejoiced in her need and the one who could meet it. No doubt our tears and neediness seem strange to the world and stranger still is our rejoicing in the midst of them. We should never be afraid to let our need for Jesus be apparent, or the stories of his provision be hidden. These things make us the salt and light that reveal the goodness of Christ (and his meal) to the world. 

Praise God. We need Jesus. We have him.