Do you ever just feel…needy?

Anyone else out there?

Like you just wish someone would come and put their arm around you and tell you…

That they love you.
That you’re beautiful.
That you’re doing a good job.
That you’re worthy.
That there is no one else on earth like you…that does the things you can do.
That you’re significant.

Anyone?

Okay, now think with me about a sponge.

Yep. A sponge.

Like the kind that you find in your kitchen sink. You probably have one in there now. If you do, go get it. I’m serious. Follow me here. Go to your kitchen sink…and get a sponge. Trust me on this. Get the sponge and put it under the kitchen faucet.

If you wet a dry sponge it kinda “grows” a little as it fills up with water. A sponge can hold a great deal of water because of those “nooks and crannies” it has. But when it fills up…it reaches a point of saturation. Where it just can’t hold any more water…at that point the water just flows off and out of it.

Jesus said that He came to give us life and life more abundant (John 10:10). So what does that look like?

I think He answers that question through the picture of the sponge.

Because, you see…I’m like a sponge. I got a lot of holes and a lot of hollow places. And…I’m a sucker. And I’ll suck from anyone and anything to get myself filled up. Tell me that you love me. Tell me that I’m pretty. Tell me that I’m doing a good job. Tell me that I’m competent. Tell me that I’m a good teacher, a good leader, a good writer, a good worker, a good friend, a good organizer, a good person. TELL ME!

We spend our lives trying to get people, positions, hobbies, titles, jobs and ministries to tell us that our lives are valuable. That our lives mean something. So we are in a continual “suck mode,” using everyone and everything around us to somehow fill up our empty, needy lives.

I don’t think that is how it was meant to be.

Living in abundance is living under the stream of steady water that the Spirit of Christ gives us. It is living being saturated by Him. When we live as filled people, there is a constant pouring out because there is a constant pouring in. And it doesn’t suck. It flows.

So I took a post-it note, wrote out one verse that I need to pray for myself every single day and put it on my computer monitor…I even set an alarm that rings daily to remind me of it. It is Psalm 90:14, “Satisfy me in the morning with Your unfailing love, that I may sing for joy and be glad all my days.”

Because, you see…I am a sucker. So in my life, I am asking Him to fill up all my longings and hole-y places with His unfailing love. This frees me up to love others without having to "use" them to fill up my empty places. And that makes all my work and all my relationships come to me as abundance…because I’m not requiring them to fill me because (are you ready for this?!): I AM ALREADY FULL! So everything around me…relationships, work, play, ministry…washes over me as abundance. This is freedom. And this is abundant life.

Now…do I live here every day? Um…no. I don’t. When I have “needy” moments, and I do, I am learning not to punish myself for being weak but to stop and cry out, “Jesus! I am needy, I am weak…fill me up with You!” I think when we do that, we will feel the Lord’s pleasure over us…for taking the weakness straight to Him! I don’t know that we’re called to be strong in ourselves…we’re called, in our weakness, to go to Him to find strength.

Anyways, will you pray this with me and for me…over the next month? Psalm 90:14. That’s all. It takes 6.41 seconds. These are the types of prayer commitments I enjoy making. I think I can spare 7 seconds.

(Inspired by a friend)