My Greatest Need

September 21, 2023

He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. Ephesians 1:7 NLT

What’s your greatest need today? What comes to your mind first? Better health or healing? Financial rescue? A new job? A restored relationship? A life partner? There are so many needs and desires that flood our minds when we think about the things we want and need in our lives.

Without a doubt, however, the greatest need every one of us has today or any day is freedom and forgiveness. Every other need has the potential for someone else to help us. A doctor, a counselor, a banker, a friend—help can come from many places. And those needs are temporary. We can be totally broke one day, and in a stroke of luck or blessing, our situation can turn around with a phone call. But in a year, we could be in the very same position again.

But our need for freedom and forgiveness far outweighs everything else we can imagine. That’s not a temporary need. We need it every day of our lives, and we need it for eternity. Even though we may not recognize or allow ourselves to consider it on an average day, we will never exist on a single day that this is not need number one.

This need is especially critical because there’s only one way to get that need met. It is by the one and only perfect sacrifice that can purchase our freedom and obtain our forgiveness. That one way is Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He not only defined Himself in that manner, but as He emphasized our mutual need to get to the Father for forgiveness and come home to His love, He said that He is the ONLY way to do it (John 14). He purchased our freedom and forgiveness with His own blood.

Sometimes we tend to think of Jesus as “the good guy” and God the Father as “the tough guy.” They are one and the same with the same heart and love. God the Father had the idea and the plan for our salvation and the restoration of our forever relationship with Him from the moment Satan brought sin into the world. He planned for a Savior, His one and only Son Jesus. He is so rich in kindness and grace that His reaction was not anger and destruction—it was to sacrifice His most precious Son, the only One pure and good, to bring us back in relationship with Him. Jesus thought just like the Father. He was willing to do this for people who could never deserve it or earn it.

I have many needs and quite a few desires. But the bottom line is my need for God’s kindness, His rich grace, mercy, and forgiveness, given to me freely through Jesus Christ. Without that forgiveness and the freedom that comes with it, nothing else matters.

• My Father, thank You is a small response for Your overwhelming kindness and grace given to me through Jesus. Help me live in grateful joy and freedom today. Amen.