the Bible – God’s guide for life #2 Needs in life

What do we need in life?

Health. Peace. Food. Love. Freedom. Warmth. Hope. I suppose one of these would come top of most people’s list of what they most need in life. If instead of need we asked what do we most want in life the answers could be quite different. Perhaps more about possessions or pleasures. We all need some of these of course, but often they do not give the lasting satisfaction hoped for and might in fact get in the way of fulfilling deeper needs. We have only to think of people who have suddenly come into money and been able buy lots of things only to find relationships suffer and anxieties increase.

Bertrand Russell (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Important as physical needs are for survival we will be thinking mostly about emotional and spiritual ones. Bertrand Russell’s daughter once said of her atheistic father that there was something missing from his life; that he had a sort of “God-shaped hole” in him that never got filled. There is something in this idea, that there is an innate longing for the divine in each of us which, if unacknowledged or rejected, means a part of us is left unsatisfied. No doubt non-believers would say their lives are every bit as fulfilled as those with a faith but perhaps that is because the idea of a ‘God-shaped hole’ doesn’t go far enough: in fact it should be stood on its head. There is a place for us in God and we have to be shaped for it. We were not made out of curiosity or experiment, but for a reason. God wanted to share his creation with living, understanding beings. He did not want to be alone in the universe. Now that is a tremendous thought, that the Creator of heaven and earth wants to have a relationship with people, but that is what you are being called to and what your life can lead you to.

Now this is not some magical or otherworldly experience. It is based on understanding what God wants from us, why he wants it and how we can respond. It is something as ordinary as a book that is our guide to these things – although, as books go, the Bible is extraordinary! This seminar series will look at how it can be a guide to the life we have yet to live, one that is centred on God. The topics for each week are linked and as each is considered we shall find just how God wants to lead us into what Jesus called “abundant life” and how our needs can be met in him.

Welcome to the first day of the rest of your life.

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Preceding

the Bible – God’s guide for life #1 Introduction

Looking on what is going on and not being of it

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Additional reading

1. Family happiness and little things we do
2. Summermonths and consumerism
3. Chasing all our life..
4. People Seeking for God 3 Laws and directions
5. Not trying to make the heathen live like Jews #2
6. Blaming their circumstances for what they are
7. A Breath for tomorrow
8. Be vigilant with a view to prayers
9. Exceeding Great and Precious Promise
10. Rejoicing in the day
11. God Feeds The Birds
12. Humility and the Fear of the Lord
13. God is my refuge and my fortress in Him I will trust
14. True riches
15. Give your worries to God
16. Blind leading the blind
17. Isaiah 55-56, Revelation 11
18. A time for everything
19. Remember there’s a light in the next day
20. It is a free will choice

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Further related articles

1. Habits are not needs
2. Needs
3. everybody’s for themselves
4. Where is My Christmas Joy
5. Not ‘Feeling’ Christmas This Year?
6. Common Pattern of Growth
7. When you finally get what you want but… It. Just. Isn’t.
8. Whatever You Have, It’s More Than Someone Else Has
9. Coming To Terms With the Desire for Happiness
10. Meeting needs in a relationship. Whose responsibility?
11. Do You Even Know What You Need
12. Dr Barry and asking for what I need
13. Needs (2)
14. Recognize Real Need
15. Weeds
16. Teach Me How to Pray
17. Generosity
18. I Deserve
19. Scripture at Sunrise 12.14.2015
20. Needs vs. wants 1
21. Needs vs. Wants 2
22. Prepare ye the way of the Lord
23. Today Meditate On: Mark 8:8 TLB

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