Something that God has revealed to me recently makes a lot of sense. And I don't think it could have been understood at a different point in my life, because it involves stuff I've learned in college.
There's this thing that I learned about in psychology and in speech. Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Basically, it says that a person's physical needs must be met before they can do anything with their life. They have to have food and shelter and stuff, then they can worry about safety, love, and self-actualization. Pretty simple, right? Here's a picture of it: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/58/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs.svg/450px-Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs.svg.png
Well, Seven by Jen Hatmaker talks a lot about serving others. She says that that is basically what her church does most of the week. They don't do tons of classes and stuff, they actually go out and serve. Well, in her book Interrupted, she talks about how there is a great physical and spiritual need among nonbelievers. But if we don't meet their physical needs, then we're not really helping them. I mean, are you more likely to believe the man talking about the gospel who has given you food and clothing, or the one who just tells you about this God who doesn't seem to care about you?
Jen quotes scripture at one part in the book, saying
"Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them "Go in peace; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?"
This is found in James 2, and I love it. I grew up in a church, but very seldom have I gotten the chance to try and meet the physical needs of nonbelievers so that I could show them God's love. I think this is a huge place where the modern church and believers are lacking. We think that we can just spread God's word, but not really worry about the people that we're trying to get the message to.
I don't know why I didn't get this before.But just the other day it kind of clicked.
In other news, Seven makes breakfast difficult. Today, I had an apple and a wheat roll. I was going to have an english muffin, but apparently we're out of them. And I didn't cheat much yesterday. I had that same chicken salad because I was starving when I got home, but otherwise I did well. And this was after going through multiple stores with candy and stuff. I almost bought candy and stashed it until the 4 weeks are over.
Tonight is the fall festival at the church. They're not doing it on halloween this year. John is going as Legolas from LOTR and I'm recycling a princess costume. The original Snow White costume can easily be made halloween-ready, so I've got costume prep to do today. And I'm going to stash some halloween candy. And then try to convince someone to take me to the store the day after halloween so I can get discount halloween candy to stash.
-EW
There's this thing that I learned about in psychology and in speech. Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Basically, it says that a person's physical needs must be met before they can do anything with their life. They have to have food and shelter and stuff, then they can worry about safety, love, and self-actualization. Pretty simple, right? Here's a picture of it: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/58/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs.svg/450px-Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs.svg.png
Well, Seven by Jen Hatmaker talks a lot about serving others. She says that that is basically what her church does most of the week. They don't do tons of classes and stuff, they actually go out and serve. Well, in her book Interrupted, she talks about how there is a great physical and spiritual need among nonbelievers. But if we don't meet their physical needs, then we're not really helping them. I mean, are you more likely to believe the man talking about the gospel who has given you food and clothing, or the one who just tells you about this God who doesn't seem to care about you?
Jen quotes scripture at one part in the book, saying
"Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them "Go in peace; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?"
This is found in James 2, and I love it. I grew up in a church, but very seldom have I gotten the chance to try and meet the physical needs of nonbelievers so that I could show them God's love. I think this is a huge place where the modern church and believers are lacking. We think that we can just spread God's word, but not really worry about the people that we're trying to get the message to.
I don't know why I didn't get this before.But just the other day it kind of clicked.
In other news, Seven makes breakfast difficult. Today, I had an apple and a wheat roll. I was going to have an english muffin, but apparently we're out of them. And I didn't cheat much yesterday. I had that same chicken salad because I was starving when I got home, but otherwise I did well. And this was after going through multiple stores with candy and stuff. I almost bought candy and stashed it until the 4 weeks are over.
Tonight is the fall festival at the church. They're not doing it on halloween this year. John is going as Legolas from LOTR and I'm recycling a princess costume. The original Snow White costume can easily be made halloween-ready, so I've got costume prep to do today. And I'm going to stash some halloween candy. And then try to convince someone to take me to the store the day after halloween so I can get discount halloween candy to stash.
-EW
No comments:
Post a Comment
Tell me what you think...
And don't forget to tell me who you are!