The other day I was conversing with my wife and she told me about a Christian speaker who was called out as a false prophet because he suggested that some Christians need to deal with their issues by going to counseling. The fellow who called him out did so on the basis that "all we need is Jesus".
I used to often think this way growing up. "I don't need that, I only need Jesus. I can get on without those people, all I need is Jesus." And you know what, in many contexts this is true. Who will ultimately fix our problems in the end? Jesus. Who is providing us with everything we need? Jesus. Who can do the impossible for us? Jesus. But at what point does this line of thinking become absurd?
What is the proper relationship between our needs and Jesus? Clearly if we have needs God provides for them through Jesus. When the ancient Israelites were in the desert God provided mana and quail for them to eat and when the prophets had to flee because of persecution God sent ravens to bring them food or an angel, or a widow who God also provided for. Jesus said, "ask it will be given, knock and the door will be opened to you, seek and you will find." However, every one of these people had to actually take the food that was provided, put it in the mouths, chew it, and swallow it. The prophets had to leg it, often, so as to make sure their head did not garnish a spike in the king's palace. And we as Christians today don't rely on God so strongly that we refuse to eat because "all we need is Jesus." The relationship between our needs and Jesus is not like an umbilical cord where we do nothing and God providentially fixes absolutely everything, providing literal nourishment to those who refuse to feed themselves.
But I need to make an immediate qualification. God can do this and has done this for various people. I think specifically of Jesus' fast for forty days or the Chinese pastor 'Brother Yung' or other Christians who have suffered incredible situations. There are times and places where God's providence does mean providing literal nourishment to people who could not eat or drink. But this is the exception, not the rule, at least in physical nourishment.
In the normal day to day life, Christians need to feed themselves because that's how God designed us. God provides the food. We eat the food. The food does what the food was meant to do. Jesus is not an automatic replacement for eating and drinking.
The same goes for community. Christians need community, we need other people, we need the Body of Christ because we are part of the Body of Christ and each part needs the other parts else we suffer and fail in our tasks. Jesus is not a substitute for other people. He created us to work together, he created us as social communal beings who need fellowship and friendship. Yes, God provides these things but always to share with others. Just as every person has need to eat and drink so too every person has need of community. I believe that Jesus specifically does not nourish us to the point where we do not have to eat because eating is good and he wants us to eat. I also believe that Jesus specifically does not meet our needs for community to the point where we have no community because fellowship is good and he wants us to live in community.
So Jesus could provide for all of our needs to the point where we just sit content under a bonsai tree neither eating nor participating in the lives of others, but that isn't what he had in mind when he said "I will provide for you." I believe that God uses our needs to guide us to where we are needed which allows others the blessing of providing for our needs.
So, to sum it all up, if you have issues in your life that you can't seem to conquer there is nothing wrong with going to see a Christian counselor. Sure, they are not Jesus but maybe they are the food that he has provided and you are just refusing to eat it.
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