Six years ago I wrote an article about seeing a need and filling it. I think more than ever this topic requires our attention. I believe that many of us remain unaware that we are called to protect each other and needs not met speaks volumes of our selfishness.
The word need denotes that what is being required is a necessity and essential for survival. A child needs food to grow and care and nurture to feel loved. I think in the Body of Christ we may confuse our wants with needs. A want is not an essential requirement for survival, but a desire for something. There is nothing wrong with having wants but we live in a generation that equates wants with needs. So much so, we spend inordinate amount of time praying for our wants thus, we ask amiss. It is important that God places His desires in our hearts and when we pray we seek answers according to His will and glory. Read Psalm 37:4, James 4:3.
If you have ever accessed a portion of God’s heart you begin to realise His concern for His sons and daughters. We would become cognisant of our responsibility to not only pray for each other but identify needs and seek to fill it. James admonishes us that it is irresponsible to let your brother or sister leave you without having their need met. James 2:15-16: If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? The need of your fellow brother or sister should place a demand on you to respond. But too often, people come and leave empty.
It is a shame that a person in need can come seeking help and support from a fellow brother or sister and be sent out with nothing but hollow words. If we are commanded to love our neighbours, how can we not be compelled to help when our neighbour is in need.
The Maslow Hierarchy of needs is model created by psychologist Abraham Maslow (1943;1954). He proposes that humans are motivated to achieve certain needs with the most basic needs taking precedence before other needs could be actualised.
Maslow, A.H. (1943). ‘A theory of human motivation’. Psychological Review. 50 (4), p. 370–96.
Mcleod, S. (2017). Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. [Online]. Available from: https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html [Accessed 23rd February 2018].