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Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Never Filled, By Hillary-Beth Koenig


Never Filled

By Hillary-Beth Koenig

You will never be able to fill someone else's need.

In this life, you might encounter people who need healing from painful situations. You'll meet people who need love and have never known anyone who truly loved them. You might find that a friend or family member needs guidance, forgiveness, or comfort. You might come to know someone who wants a really close relationship, to feel known and appreciated. In the right context, all of these things are okay, and it is good and right and our duty even, to be there for others; the Bible tells us:

Romans 12:10
Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.

Romans 12:15
Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.

For people who need healing, remember, you are not their Healer. Only God can fulfill that role. Only God knows their deepest hurts, and their deepest needs. You can help point them to God, and start them on the right path to healing, and even walk alongside them in that journey, but you can't "fix" them.

There are people who need love and have never known anyone who truly loved them. You can show them love because God has shown you love. The best thing to do is to not forget that God is not only the best example of love through Christ's death for us, but also has changed your life daily with that same love.

You might find that a friend or family member needs guidance, forgiveness, or comfort. To a degree, you can offer these things - you can give someone advice, you can forgive those that have wronged you, and you can comfort those who have lost a loved one or something dear to them. But ultimately, God knows everything, all sin is against God, and God's comfort is the deepest comfort there is. So, unless a person seeks God, makes peace with God, and finds their peace in Him, that person will remain lost and broken deep inside.

You might come to know someone who wants a really close relationship, and wants to feel known and appreciated. We encourage each other by offering kind words, thanking others, recognizing others in their successes, and letting others shine instead of stealing the lime light all the time. But some people are never satisfied, and never feel famous enough, appreciated enough, or close enough to another person (think of someone who's very clingy, or doesn't know what to do unless they are following someone else around). This person desires a close relationship with God, whether they realize it or not, and can develop their identity better when they stop trying to find their identity in others and find it in their Creator.

As a Christian, you must keep this in mind - you are not, and cannot pretend to be, someone else's Savior, nor should you seek that someone else be that for you. No person can satisfy another person in the way God does; no person is good enough, knowledgeable enough, or able to love like God loves us.

What Christ has done on the cross is good enough for those who are in need - and good enough for you. If you are feeling unsatisfied today, ask God for your needs -

Philippians 4:19
And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

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