Sitting here this morning I have been thinking about the reasons we reach out to others. I know that we reach out to  meet a need in our own life or we reach out to fulfill a need in another person’s life. So then I had to ask myself the question of why did I reach out to someone recently? I guess we all tend to use both reasons at different points in our lives. As I began to think this thought out I also came to another conclusion. When we reach out for ourselves, it tends to be a self-destructive or negative action or negative words (about ourselves or others). Think about it, I know the times that I need someone or something in my life and I did not know where to go to get that need met, I used a negative action to cause people to look to me to help me fulfill a need that I had. So, why do we need to reach out? As I thought about this I came to another conclusion that we tend to reach out for ourselves when we are lacking in deep intimate relationships with others or with God. I know that when Marcia and I are communicating and practicing intimacy there is no need to be thinking about myself. Or if I am practicing intimacy with friends (being honest and vulnerable) then I tend not to feel like my emotional needs are not being meet. It is in the times of a lack of intimacy with people that we tend to get negative or self-destructive. Now follow me on this. When I am not practicing intimacy with God then I tend to depend on others to meet my emotional needs. Not saying that when I am close to God that I don’t need others in my life, but I tend to be more dependent on Him for the things in my life. I am reminded of a verse in the Bible story found in Luke 7. Jesus was teaching at a house of a Pharisee and He was there teaching and a women came into the house at broke open a jar of very expensive perfume, washed his feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. The thing is the fragrant oil that was used was a burial spice and this held so much significance. She was reaching out to Jesus to meet His needs to have His feet cleans and she was also beginning the process of His death for her sins. She was also meeting a need and Jesus saw this servant’s heart and also saw her need and reached out to her with forgiveness. How many times did Jesus tell us to serve others and put them first? Jesus has already promised to take care of us and our needs. But I believe that we can have our needs met through our service to others also.  I think this is a principle that we need to begin to practice. We need to reach out to others to fulfill their needs and let us trust Christ to fulfill our true needs. Jesus knew that what this women needed was forgiveness. You see, He is really the only One that truly sees what we really need. So, back to the question from the beginning, “Why do we reach out”? Take some time to examine why you reach out and ask God to show you where you need Him to meet you and how He can help you by reaching out to people around you.

In His Grip,
Pastor Jason