DAY 1: GOD DOESN'T NEED ANYTHING

READ

ACTS 1 7: 2 2 -25
22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I Passed along an observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.”

CONSIDER

God is full. When we talk about being full, we are referring to a temporary condition, like the feeling we have after enjoying a Thanksgiving meal. We are full in the sense that we have reached maximum capacity. Yet, our stomachs will soon create more room. But that’s not what we mean when we speak of the fullness of God.

The fullness of God means God doesn’t need anything, ever. If that’s not enough, he doesn’t even need you. It’s one of the points Paul makes in his message in Athens. “God is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything.” Religions throughout time and space asserted that God needs humans to give him things. But Paul makes it clear that God doesn’t need anything.

Christian theologians refer to God’s fullness as the aseity of God. It simply means God draws everything he needs from his own fullness. He is glorious, holy, and merciful in and of himself. There’s nothing we can offer God that will add to his fullness nor anything we can keep from God that will diminish his fullness. As he has been, he is and evermore shall be.

This isn’t the only place in Scripture where this truth is featured. To the Romans, Paul wrote, “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?” For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.” (Romans 11 :36). God is self-existing and self-sufficient. If he had never created or redeemed us, he would still be as glorious as he has always been.

Why is this important? Because the story of the Bible is not a story about a God who needs you. Rather, it is a story about the God you need. We tend to think of God as being like us. We have needs. We need attention, affection, and all types of resources. God doesn’t need any of those things. Everything God does isn’t to resolve some deficiency in himself. Everything God does is to resolve a deficiency in his creatures.

What is your story about God? Is it a story about a God who needs you and depends on you for anything good to happen? Or is it a story about a God who has everything and can do anything? A God who is able to do things apart from you or anything you could bring him?

When we talk about the fullness of God, it can sound cold and impersonal. But Paul quickly chases that thought away when he reminds us “because he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.” From his fullness, God creates the world and gives us everything. He gives us his presence (he is not far from us) and he gives us his Son. We serve and worship a God who not
only is full, but he is the God who gives.

The good news is because God is full and because he gives, God cannot be exhausted in his giving.

When he gives you mercy, he has a fullness of mercy left to give. When he blesses you with favorable things, he has yet more favor left to show you through his providence. When he gives you a sense of his presence, he has yet more of himself to give to you. When he forgives your sins, he has yet more forgiveness to give.

God is fully free to do whatever pleases him. And what it has pleased God to do is to send His Son to live for you, to die for you, and be raised victorious over death for you. It has pleased God to give salvation to anyone who will turn from their sin and put their trust in Jesus Christ. God gives from his fullness and those who accept God’s gift get to experience his fullness for all eternity. Because of God’s fullness, he doesn’t need our generosity. He is completely capable of doing everything without us contributing a dime. We need to hear this so that we are reminded of God’s greatness. When we give, we don’t add anything to God. But we get to experience and reflect the joy he finds in giving.

The good news is that we can go to God confidently whenever we are in need knowing that he stands ready to give. And because he is full, we can never exhaust his goodness.