Living in Need
I slightly panicked when I opened my card holder. It noticed right away that it felt more flimsy then normal, and then I realized my student ID was missing. I quickly scanned the ground around me, only to have the panic set in a little stronger than before. I retraced my steps to the room I had come from. I messaged my friend and asked her to check her backseat. The hosts of my Sunday night community group looked all through their house. After looking everywhere I could think to look, I admitted it.
"I think I have officially lost my student ID," I told my friends the following morning. My busy schedule combined with the narrow office hours of the card-making office made it impossible for me to get a new card until several days later. The problem was that my card gets me into the cafeteria and dorm. "I don't know how I am going to eat over the next three days," I confessed.
"Well, I guess you will get to practice living in need!" my friend, Emily, reminded me. We had been recently challenged by a lesson given from Luke 10 where Jesus sends out the seventy-two. "Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road," Jesus told His missionaries. Basically, He instructed them to live in need.
Living in need forces dependence on God. It also allows God to work through others in order to meet your needs. By not taking extras and neccessities, the missionaries in Luke 10 had to trust God to provide for them. In turn, they watched God meet their needs through the gifts given by other people, whether that was a bed to sleep in, a meal to eat, or a clean pair of cothes.
We, God's missionaries, are called to live the same way. My lost ID example is so puny compared to what God really asks us to do. And I have seen what it really looks like for people to live in need. Perhaps this is why James said, "Has not God chosen the poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him?" (James 2:5) People in poverty know how to trust God in a way that those of us who live comfortably cannot understand.
The next day between classes, I dropped by the cafeteria for lunch. I was greeted at the doorway by the usual card-swiper. I said, "I don't have my card on me, but I have my number memorized. Can I just get you to punch in my number so I can eat?"
The worker sighed and said to me, "I'm sorry, I can't do that." I turned around and practically bumped into the man standing behind he.
"I'll buy her lunch," he replied as he nudged me forward.
"Oh, sir, you don't have to do that," I said while shaking my head.
"No, I want to give this to you. Now you should go and do something kind for someone else."
That's what living in need is all about. Losing an ID is way too simplistic when thinking about what Jesus really meant when He intsructed His missionaries to journey without the their necessities. However, God used it this week to remind me how badly I want to live in need. Today it was losing my ID, but tomorrow it will be packing everything I own in one suitcase and boarding a plane to Africa.
As for tomorrow, I keep asking myself, how can I live in need today?
We don't need a purse or bag or sandals - no necessities really. For Christ is our neccessity. By living in need, we place absolute trust in Him. And when we allow Him to provide for us through the generosity of others, we are able to then bless others in return.
"I think I have officially lost my student ID," I told my friends the following morning. My busy schedule combined with the narrow office hours of the card-making office made it impossible for me to get a new card until several days later. The problem was that my card gets me into the cafeteria and dorm. "I don't know how I am going to eat over the next three days," I confessed.
"Well, I guess you will get to practice living in need!" my friend, Emily, reminded me. We had been recently challenged by a lesson given from Luke 10 where Jesus sends out the seventy-two. "Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road," Jesus told His missionaries. Basically, He instructed them to live in need.
Living in need forces dependence on God. It also allows God to work through others in order to meet your needs. By not taking extras and neccessities, the missionaries in Luke 10 had to trust God to provide for them. In turn, they watched God meet their needs through the gifts given by other people, whether that was a bed to sleep in, a meal to eat, or a clean pair of cothes.
We, God's missionaries, are called to live the same way. My lost ID example is so puny compared to what God really asks us to do. And I have seen what it really looks like for people to live in need. Perhaps this is why James said, "Has not God chosen the poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him?" (James 2:5) People in poverty know how to trust God in a way that those of us who live comfortably cannot understand.
The next day between classes, I dropped by the cafeteria for lunch. I was greeted at the doorway by the usual card-swiper. I said, "I don't have my card on me, but I have my number memorized. Can I just get you to punch in my number so I can eat?"
The worker sighed and said to me, "I'm sorry, I can't do that." I turned around and practically bumped into the man standing behind he.
"I'll buy her lunch," he replied as he nudged me forward.
"Oh, sir, you don't have to do that," I said while shaking my head.
"No, I want to give this to you. Now you should go and do something kind for someone else."
That's what living in need is all about. Losing an ID is way too simplistic when thinking about what Jesus really meant when He intsructed His missionaries to journey without the their necessities. However, God used it this week to remind me how badly I want to live in need. Today it was losing my ID, but tomorrow it will be packing everything I own in one suitcase and boarding a plane to Africa.
As for tomorrow, I keep asking myself, how can I live in need today?
We don't need a purse or bag or sandals - no necessities really. For Christ is our neccessity. By living in need, we place absolute trust in Him. And when we allow Him to provide for us through the generosity of others, we are able to then bless others in return.
Ashli, such a great post and an important truth. "Living in need" is played out differently in each of our lives...but the Sustainer is the same. God is so faithful to take care of all our needs. I love your thoughts and feel so blessed to know you. Thanks for sharing your heart.
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