Easter: Meeting Our Deepest Need

I heard on the news the other day about Calvin McCraw, a homeless man in Oklahoma City, who will let people vent to him for fifty cents a minute (http://www.wbtv.com/story/21442174/homeless-man...). What an entrepreneur! They say the first rule of success is to look for a need that’s not being met and find a way to satisfy it. Calvin apparently noticed that friends who will listen without interrupting, tuning you out, or giving advice is a need that’s not being met in today’s world. So he’s filling the gap and making a profit.

Of course, what feels like a need isn’t always best for us. The other night I felt like I needed some homemade chocolate pudding with a vanilla wafer, dollop of peanut butter, and piece of dark chocolate melted into each bowl. I was tired at the end of a long day and struggling with unrelenting pain. The first bowl tasted so good, I felt I needed another.

However, once the taste wore off I felt worse than ever – overstuffed and disgusted with myself for going overboard. It wasn’t satisfying because chocolate wasn’t my deepest need. Do you do the same thing? Trying to meet your need with all kinds of things, but still feeling empty inside?

Easter is all about God’s answer to our deepest need. When Jesus came to earth, people thought they needed a king, a political hero to rescue them from the domination of the Romans, a miracle man, but He refused to give them what they thought they wanted. Jesus knew none of those things would satisfy. What they needed was a perfect lamb to provide forgiveness for their sins, once and for all.

After Jesus’ death, a couple of His followers met up with Him on the road to Emmaus, but didn’t recognize Him in His risen form. He asked what they were talking about and they revealed their disappointment and confusion about Jesus. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel” (Luke 24:19-21). That’s when He filled them in, “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself” (verse 27).

They had thought Jesus was what they needed, until things didn’t go their way. I find myself doing the same thing. So often I seek comfort and ease and happiness, but those are not my greatest needs. Jesus knows we most need an eternal relationship with Him. Time after time, He meets me on the road of life and explains it to me more fully - using His Word, people, even song lyrics, and situations – to help me recognize Him again as my Savior.

Have you had your own Emmaus Road experience? Have you recognized Jesus as your Savior? He is the answer to our greatest need, on Easter and every day.

#Easter #doyouknowwhatyouneed #forgiveness #happiness #Savior