Christ began his ministry by meeting people’s needs. This happened throughout the gospels as he restored the blind man’s sight, healed the bleeding woman, and fed the hungry crowds. He met suffering people right where they were and gave them just what they needed. This was reason enough for people to follow him. Even some Pharisees followed Christ because of his miracles.
I decided to follow Jesus after he met my deepest need. As a teenager, I became uncertain whether God was real. I was born into a family of preachers, so how could I be sure that my faith wasn’t just indoctrination from my parents? Jesus came to me in my hurting soul and showed me what I needed to know. It wasn’t Buddha, Mohammed, or Confucius that loved me; it was Jesus. He revealed the pure truth of his love, and it turned my life around.
Jesus blesses us in our time of need, but that’s only his starting place in our lives. He takes us from blessedness to brokenness because it’s the only way to bring us to real spiritual maturity. The broken path is how we begin to take on his giving nature. Yet our flesh hates the idea of a life of giving because it requires our brokenness.
Paul spoke of being shipwrecked, beaten, and stoned because he was called to give. The other apostles were persecuted because Jesus called them to a life of giving. Even the crowds stopped following Jesus when he began preaching difficult truths (see John 6). When the people turned for the exits, “Jesus said to the twelve, ‘Do you want to go away as well?’ Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.’” (John 6:67-69, ESV).
Jesus’s question puts us in the same position as the disciples. We have to trust that he is good and faithful. We don’t get to choose the agenda for our lives. If we did, we would all be getters, not givers. That’s why Jesus sets the agenda. When he leads us down a hard path, we can be sure he does so in love.