God has no needs

On the Areopagus the apostle Paul presented the idols of the Athenians to the true God: «God who made the world and everything in it, he, the Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made with hands are. Nor does he allow himself to be served by human hands like someone who needs something, since he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything ”(Acts 17,24-25).

Paul reveals the difference between idols and the true triune God. The true God has no needs, he is a giving God who gives life, he shares everything that is good that he has because God is love. Idols, on the other hand, need human hands, which they create in order to serve them.

But what if God were a single person, as taught by Unitarianism, which rejects the doctrine of the Trinity and the divinity of Jesus of Nazareth? How did God live before creation and what would he have done before time began?

This God cannot be called eternally loving because there was no living being apart from him. Such a God is needy and needs a creation in order to be able to be loving. The Triune God, on the other hand, is unique. Jesus reveals what the true God did before creation: «Father, I want that where I am also those who you have given me may be with me, so that they may see my glory that you have given me; for you loved me before the world was founded »(John 17,24).

The relationship between God the Father and his Son is mutual and eternal; the Son loves the Father: "But let the world know that I love the Father and do as the Father has commanded me" (John 14,31).

The Holy Spirit is love: "For God did not give us the spirit of fear, but of strength and love and prudence" (2. Timothy 1,7).

There is an eternal communion of love between Father, Son and Spirit, which is why John was able to write that God is love: «Beloved, let us love one another; for love is from God, and whoever loves was born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God; because God is love »(1. John 4,7-8).

The triune God of love carries life in himself: "For as the Father has life in himself, so he also gave the Son to have life in himself" (John 5,26).

God is completely different from all other gods. He is perfect in himself. The eternal God, who carries life in himself and needs nothing, gave life to his creation and to all humanity and opened the way to eternal life through Jesus Christ. He who has no needs created the universe through an act of grace and love. Some might conclude that God doesn't care about us because God doesn't need us. God loves us and created us in his own image so that we can have fellowship with him and live in close relationship with him. God wants us to worship him, not to satisfy any need in him, but for our benefit, so that we may acknowledge him and relate to him and live in that relationship.

You can thank God the Father that through his Son Jesus Christ he gave you the universe, his life and an invitation to eternal life.

by Eddie Marsh