Does God NEED Us?

Does God need us? Does He need our prayers, our worship, our acts of kindness, our righteousness, our blessings? Is His essence sustained or depleted by what we do or don't do? The answer is found in Acts 17:24-25...

"God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things."

We should not be so arrogant as to think that our activities here on this earth somehow sustain God. He doesn't need our worship. He doesn't need our righteousness. He doesn't need our prayers. Instead, it is us who need Him, in both the physical and the spiritual sense. 

However, even though God doesn't need us, He absolutely wants us to realize our need for Him, to seek Him, and to obtain fellowship with Him.

"And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being..." (Ac. 17:27-28).

God is "longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).

"'Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,' says the Lord. 'Therefore, turn and live'" (Ezek. 18:31-32).

 "Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents" (Luke 15:10).

And of course, "For God so loved the world..." (John 3:16)

Isn't it amazing that even though God didn't need to create or save us, and even though He didn't have to create or save us, He did so...because He wanted to. Why would the Creator of the universe want anything to do with us? The easy answer is that He loved us. But then...why would He love us? Why should He, after all we've done? The easy answer, again, is "God is love" (1 John 4:8). But how and why is God love? Ah...now therein lies the question that is at the center of the greatest mystery this world has ever known or will know. The truth is, I don't know. I cannot even begin to comprehend the depths of God's love or why He is the way He is, but I know God's love is real, and I know it has transformed my life, and therefore I am indescribably thankful.

God doesn't need us. He wants us.

But I need Him. Do you? 

Yes, of course you need Him. But do you realize it? I hope you will.