Necessity

Necessity is the mother of invention.

It’s an old phrase, and largely, it’s true.  I think, though, that maybe we don’t give it enough scope in our daily lives.  It has applications far beyond the realm of inventions and gadgetry.  In fact, I think I might make it even more true with just a simple word selection:

Necessity is the mother of change.

When life is good, we tend to live in our ruts.  After all, nothing’s broken, so why fix it, right?  The problem is simply that ruts don’t keep things from deteriorating.  A good CEO knows that what works today might just only work because the opposition isn’t forcing your hand at that time.  It holds just as true in business as in regular life that if you aren’t moving forward, then you’re falling back.  The comfortable ruts get dug a little deeper each day.  And then it hits: we’re in it in a bad way, but how to get out?  The tire tracks are so deep we can’t turn either way, we’re locked into the path we’ve chosen, no matter where it’s leading us.

Recently, my wife and I re-watched Iron Man 3, which I think is a pretty darn awesome movie.  In it, though, there’s a line.  It’s a good line, even if it is really cheesy coming from the villain.  “You gave me the greatest gift of all: desperation.”  Of course, the bad guy uses it as justification to do awful things, but the fact is that without that push, his goals might never have been achieved.  The Bible says something similar to that, strangely enough.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matt 5:3 (NASB)

Poor in spirit refers to someone who is brokenhearted, someone who genuinely grieves over something, who would give anything to alter the circumstances of their life at that time.  Those who are not poor in spirit over the state of their lives don’t feel the need to change.  Those who don’t feel the need to change don’t see the purpose in trusting in a higher power than themselves.  Ergo, those who don’t need Jesus don’t inherit his kingdom.  God has pretty intense plans for all of us, ones that our human minds could not possibly foresee or comprehend beforehand (1 Cor 1:15, Jer 29:11), but he will not meet anyone on terms that they try to dictate.  God demands that we come to him looking for HIS best, not ours.  That’s why this verse is the first thing Jesus says to the masses in his famous sermon; because everything else God has planned for our lives—peace, joy, prosperity, love, salvation, grace—all hinges on that idea of desperation.  We have to come to God continually, expecting nothing, asking for everything.  God wants to give you freedom, in whatever shape his will gives it.

So, how bad do you want it?