God Does Not Need Me

God does not need us.  I have heard this many times in the last few decades.  Often this statement comes as I wonder awestruck and twitterpated at God’s invitation to participate in some crazy scheme he has been cooking up, to be a part of his wild, passionate, dangerous life.  It’s as if I have crossed a line and need to be warned.  “It’s ok to love God and to think you are loved by him, but, you better be careful if you start thinking he needs you…” Head shaking and dark, sideways glancing tsk tsking follow.  Ironically, this rebuff is normally offered in an attempt to elevate his holiness and self-sufficiency.  As if thinking that God needs me would somehow be an offense or an indication of weakness on his part. 

            I have also wondered if this sudden urgency to deny God’s need of his chosen people comes from fear.  If God did need me, would it imply a requirement that I could never meet?  After all, I am a worm, a sinful, dirty creature incapable of any good thing.  What could I ever bring of myself that God would need?  But - if the life of Christ in us is what has made us able to relate to God…  If I am now a new creature…  If I have been restored…  If I have died and been raised to life and am now seated with the Father….  If my sins have been erased…  Then, I am not a worm.  I have a new identity.  I am a friend and brother of Jesus.  I am a son of the King.  I am his bride and body.  It is mysterious and powerful beyond comprehension, but I do know that I can give to God anything he requires of me because it is Him in me that gives me life.

            So what anyway? So what if God doesn’t need me?  When I think of “need” I think of needing a ride or needing to eat lunch or needing to get my teeth cleaned.  Sure, for any of these things I will have preferences.  I’d rather get from A to B in a fast car with a hot babe, eat 15 tacos for lunch and get my teeth checked by someone gentle who uses plenty of gas.  When it comes down to it though, if I need these things, I’ll take them any way I can get them.  I’ll ride with a fat smelly guy with an all too frequent squeaky laugh in his faded blue 76 Datsun pickup with plastic on the passenger side window.  I’ll eat soggy left over fish sticks at the day care center.  I’ll get my teeth checked by a hygienist who just got dumped by her boyfriend.  I will be willing because I need to get ‘er done.

           It seems to me that the arguable question of whether God needs me is secondary.  I’m willing to pass on the vehement argument and let the strangely defensive person feel as though God has been protected and nothing too much is required of them.  The primary hope that I have is that God wants me.  As I consider it, if he wants me, then why do I care if he needs me or not?  Going back to my preferences.  They indicate choice; the hot babe in the fast car is my wife.  I have picked her, repeatedly.  I want her in every way I can have her.  I am attracted to her, I love the sound of her voice, the way she laughs, the taste of her kiss and the smell of her hair.  I want to know what she thinks and how she feels.  I watch her walk around in my living room and enjoy her beauty.  I like it so very much when she gets dressed up and puts on jewelry and perfume because she wants to be beautiful for me.  I want to open her door and hold her hand and pick out food together and dance slow.  She’s amazing and I WANT her.  Another woman could meet my needs and be my partner.  Someone different could do the things she does and I would survive.  It just wouldn’t be the woman I want.  I want the woman I picked.  My need for her is overwhelmingly eclipsed by my want for her.  I think the illustration is clear enough to leave out the difference between needing food and wanting tacos or needing my teeth checked and wanting it to be as comfortable as possible.  When the want is present, the need is secondary.

            The conclusion then is a switch in wondering.  I wonder if God wants me?  I think he does.  Here is my reasoning.  First of all, why in the name of all that is appropriate and well deserved would God put up with all the crap we fling at him and on ourselves if he did not want us?  Why would he send his son to claim his bride?  Why would he call us his bride and go to prepare a place for us?  Why would he say he wants us if he doesn’t?  The answer is obvious and irrefutable.  God does want us.  The entire story of the bible is about his pursuit of us.  He has literally gone through hell to rescue us from ourselves.  He has sacrificed everything that can be sacrificed because he wants us. 

          I can believe that God wants me; you can believe that God wants you because he says so and he backs it up with irrefutable evidence.  Read the story:  He gave us life.  We denied him and chose our own way.  He provided a way back.  We couldn’t get there.  He came and got us and paid for our return.  He has invited us again to walk with him.  He speaks to us an identity of endearment.  He continues to invite, to woo, to pursue and offer.  He celebrates with ecstasy every time we accept.  He tells us of the wedding, the feast and our life together.  He promises that all will be good.  I believe him.