I was reading in Donald Miller’s, “Blue Like Jazz” and there is a passage that says the following:

“There is this lie floating around that says I am supposed to be able to do life alone, without any help, without stopping to worship something bigger than myself. But I actually believe there is something bigger than me, and I need for there to be something bigger than me. I need someone to put awe inside me; I need to come second to someone who has everything figured out.”

I was debating this passage with someone who says that this need is from a selfish point of view, that wanting to believe, and therefore believing, is from a selfish and egocentric standpoint. The point is that Donald Miller was saying that he had a need to believe that there was God so that he might not have to consider the possiblities of there NOT being a God.

What do you think? Do you feel this need to believe? What does that mean? What does it mean to need there to be a God? How does that affect our view and beliefs of God?

Personally, I don’t think that Miller is saying that he “needs” it because he wants to feel
justified and safe as a human being, etc. But I think that he is describing this intense and beautiful desire that our hearts have to get to know the Creator and Lover of our souls, who makes our hearts come alive with awe and wonder because He created us to love him and love others, and love our lives that are full of mystery, exploration, discovery, love and relationships.

It’s like this. I feel a need to be loved and to believe that some day I will have a best friend and husband to build and share a life with, but that doesn’t mean that I am going to build a cardboard man and act out having dinner with him and heartfelt conversations with him because of this need, or to make myself feel better. I’m going to pursue a real relationship with this person and get to know him daily, and listen to what he says, and to his heart, and trust him and fall in love with him because he is a person, and I want a relationship with him. There are no rules, I don’t have to approach him in a
step-by-step manner.

I have so many thoughts, but I’ll stop here to keep it semi-focused…