I Am What I Need

Whenever Olive Oil tried to get her boyfriend, Popeye the Sailor Man, to change his ways, he would always snap back with, "Olives, I yam whut I yam!"

Regardless of who others think we are, who we think we are or who we have become, at the deepest level we really are who we are --- unique, individual children created by the Living God. At the core of our being is a pure form; it's how we began and where we will one day return to. Who we have become is very much shaped by our never-ending needs in life, whether real or imagined.

As we become adults the needs begin to define who we are --- with sometimes pretty ugly results. The drug addict needs another fix. The alcoholic needs another drink. The rapist needs a perverted control over a helpless victim. Needs are not always reflective of negative characterizations. The abused wife needs shelter and love. The elderly shut-in needs companionship and compassion. The despondent student needs direction and hope.

Needs are layered on us over time. The green ogre Shrek (in Shrek) told Donkey that "ogres are like onions with many layers." Peel back an onion, and you still have onion. Our layers, however, have more often than not changed us in nature from our beginnings, made us into an image that God didn't intend for us. As we draw closer to him we find that the unwanted layers cannot exist in his presence. We go through a process in which they are removed. Our growing heart knowledge of him is the catalyst that produces this change.

Many false prophets have come out among us, attempting to tell us who God is, but their efforts are only for the purpose of effecting control or receiving personal gain. Some aren't consciously aware that these are their motives. We must ask God for discernment around those who would reveal him to us. Some are very close to him.

Prior to around 25 A.D prophets (and some priests) were the only connection between God and man. But God saw fit to send one of his own, his son Jesus. Jesus walked, talked and acted like his father. Through the written word of his words in the Gospels and the inner working of his Spirit, we can approach the Father through the Son.

We need Jesus. He said that he was the ONLY way to the Father. As we get to know his Son, God begins to come into focus, the layers wither, and we emerge from the person we're not. We become who we really are. It will eventually happen, but how precious it would be if it would happen on earth. Let it begin today.
STEVE