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Jun 11 8:14 AM

Our Deepest Relational Need

Jun 11 8:14 AM
Jun 11 8:14 AM

 

Friday, June 11, 2021

Proverbs 20:6, Proverbs 18:24



Today, I want to talk to you about this truth: all human relationships have limits. I think you know that, but I think we sometimes forget it in the heat of relationships. Sometimes we put too much on people. We want people to meet needs they can't meet. We want people to love us in ways they can't love us. We want people to be something for us that they can't be, and the problem is not them. The problem is in our expectations. Relationships are important, you have to have relationships. The worst thing you can do to a human being is to put them in solitary confinement in prison. But you have to realize that relationships have limits. You say, "But Vince, if relationships have limits and I have love-needs, and they can't meet my love needs, then where do I turn?" You turn to the lover of your soul, to God, to Jesus Christ.

 
I get that from a couple passages in Scripture from the book of Proverbs, that great relational handbook. Proverbs 20:6 says this, "Many will say they are loyal friends, but who can find one who is really faithful?" The proverbs writer is saying what we have said before, which is that you have very few close friends. But this passage is also implying that there are limits to what people can do to meet your needs. Then, Proverbs 18:24 says this, "A man of many companions may come to ruin." Remember, we said companion are close friends. You can't have too many close friends.People will say that you can't have enough good friends, and I understand that, but you can't have too many people that are close friends because it's just physically impossible. And the text even says that if you do that, you'll just come to ruin because you're getting pulled in too many different directions.

The rest of that verse says this, "But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." Nobody knows for sure. But this seems to be proverbs doesn't necessarily do this a lot. But it seems to be a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is our brother. He's our father, he's the Son of God, he is our Savior, but He is also our brother in a certain sense. He is the lover of our soul, and he will love you in a way that no human being can. Are you making sure that your most important relationship needs are being met by Jesus Christ and not by human beings? Because humans can't do it. And they'll let you down and they'll hurt you not because they're intentionally doing it, although sometimes they do, but because they can't. Only Jesus Christ can. Are you letting Jesus Christ love you? You know, to become a Christian is the way you start letting him love you. And if you are not yet a Christian, you can't experience the love of God. When you say, "Jesus Christ, you are God. Jesus, I am a sinner, I sin, I mess up, I make so many bad decisions that hurt you, others myself, my family," and when you believe he died on the cross in your stead, in your place for your sin, and you receive him into your life by faith alone you become a Christian. Then you have his love, then you have the love of God. And you will have your deepest love needs met through Jesus Christ. You need your human love needs met, but there's a limit to that. Jesus Christ is infinite. And he'll meet your deepest needs in ways you never dreamed possible, because he's the lover of your soul.
 
Father, I pray that anybody who has over-relied on a relationship to meet their deepest needs, I pray that they would desist from that and turn to you. And if they haven't turned to you for the first time, I pray they would do that now. Just communicate what we just said and how you're our only hope. For those of us who already have, help us to stop over relying on relationships to meet our deepest needs and to turn to you. God, just meet our deepest love need. We pray this in your son's name. Amen.

By Pastor Vince DiPaola

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