The Greater Need

Sometimes the most profound truths come wrapped in the simplest answers.

I recently listened to a woman answer a question from an audience member. The question concerned a child whose life had taken a direction the parent was struggling to understand.

I expected a lengthy answer about right and wrong, choices and consequences, perhaps even a list of Scriptures.

But her answer went somewhere deeper.

She brought the conversation back to our greatest need.

Jesus.

And I sat there thinking, Wow. That is profound.

How often do we become so focused on someone’s behavior that we overlook their heart?

We see the struggle. We see the choices. We see the things we believe need to change.

But do we see the person who needs the love and grace of Jesus?

And isn’t that true of every one of us?

We can spend so much time trying to fix the outward things while neglecting the inward things.

Yet Jesus has always been concerned with the heart.

In John 4, Jesus met a Samaritan woman at a well. He knew her story. He knew the complicated circumstances of her life. But He didn’t begin by handing her a list of everything she needed to fix.

He offered her living water.

He pointed her toward the One who could satisfy her deepest spiritual thirst.

And that is what stayed with me today.

The greatest need of the human heart isn’t simply better behavior. It’s a living relationship with Jesus Christ.

Because when we draw near to Him, something begins to happen.

Our hearts soften.

Our desires are examined.

Our thinking begins to change.

And the Holy Spirit continues His work of transforming us from the inside out.

Romans 12:2 reminds us:

“Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

Maybe we need to spend less time trying to change people and more time pointing them toward Jesus.

Less time identifying everything we think is wrong and more time demonstrating the goodness of the One who makes us new.

After all, we are not the Savior.

Jesus is.

And every one of us needs Him.



“For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” — Philippians 2:13







                            Christine