Did you know that you and I are deficient? It is not our fault, entirely, because sin is leaching away at each and every one of us at almost all moments of the day. These deficiencies affect us all, the faithful and the unbelievers, and in all different ways.

If you neglect caring and nurturing the body God gave you, you could easily become vitamin deficient. (1 Corinthians 6:19 ESV – Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, ..”) The body created for you cannot keep up with all of its functions if you are overweight and/or are putting unhealthy foods/beverages and harmful chemicals into your body. Vitamin and mineral deficiencies lead to sometimes severe, or even fatal, health problems.

If you are not tending to the blessings God has given you, such as physical things like your possessions and home, spiritual things such as your talent for singing or for giving encouragement, or monetary blessings which is your job and finances, those will also suffer or even be taken away. Your car, for example, could suffer with oil deficiencies if you don’t get regular oil changes. In combustible engines, a lack of enough motoroil specific to that design of engine leads to catastrophic failures and fires.

A big deficiency in today’s society falls into the category of moral deficiencies, which leads to sometimes illegal,but always unethical, transgressions against anyone who stands between you and what you want. Think about people in street gangs, executives and managers who let their staff suffer working with shortages of manpower or equipment so they can get a big bonus, or even the holier than thou “Christian” – who only offers grace and mercy to themselves, holds other people to unrealistic “religious standards” they can’t meet, and fails to draw anyone closer to Christ because they have turned their faith into an idol.

Generally speaking, a deficiency is the state of being inadequate or lacking something necessary for a particular purpose or function. Oh and aren’t we all lacking in our lives?

Many people driven to amass wealth hold the belief that money will ease their burdens. (Ecclesiastes 5:10) The idea of never having to go without what you want, and always having what you need, appeals to most everybody. Why? Because we don’t like discomfort. That starts at birth and can last a lifetime if we don’t ever learn that the best things happen outside of our comfort zone. As well, if you are truly listening to God then you know how often He loves to ask us to step outside what we are comfortable doing. (Hint: it is a LOT)

The story of Jonah and the whale comes to mind in the book of Jonah. The Bible says God asked Jonah to go deliver a warning message to the sin-filled city of Nineveh. It says the city was home to more than 120,000 people and so large that it would take 3 days to walk from one side to the other. But Jonah didn’t want to be around such sinful people and tried to run the other direction. Even after being thrown overboard, swallowed by a big fish, and enjoying God’s forgiveness after promising God his obedience, Jonah still did not approve of the Lord showing compassion to the newly repented city of Nineveh. This man was so bitter that he told God he wanted to die.

Switch gears with me here a moment. If you are a parent, imagine if you sent one child to warn another to stop their nonsense before you have to issue discipline in the form of punishment. Now imagine that child defied you, got caught, begged for your mercy, then delivered the message, and afterward got mad because their sibling was also forgiven and not punished… so mad that they don’t want to be there because they will be reminded of your love for their sibling. What would you do?

We are human and would likely be furious. We might even make poor choices in dealing with that ungrateful child because of our frustration. Not our God. Nope. He is slow to anger and patient beyond our wildest dreams. You can read the 4th chapter of Jonah yourself to learn the kind of wisdom and love we should show our kids and each other when people behave in those entitled and selfish ways. It is pretty entertaining.

The point of that story, and the entirety of the Bible really, is that we are the ones who are deficient in love but NOT GOD. Our love deficiency causes us to do all kinds of things. Some try to trick people into falling in love or replace love altogether with sex. Others try to use money to fill the love-shaped hole but they still get cheated on and/or divorced and find possessions don’t fill the gap they feel. Power-hungry people think if they can be (which really means feel) superior to others then they will be happy. Problem is, none of that actually satisfies the soul yearning for more than a short time. God’s love is outside the limits of time and 100% pure. It satisfies the human spirit. His love never fails… EVER.

People who don’t know God think that He fails them because they don’t understand His sovereignty. He is everybody’s parent. That includes the stranger who cut you off in traffic, your disrespectful neighbor, the political party you disagree with, the thief, the murderer, the child molester, the loved one who uterly broke your heart, and you. I find it much easier to understand God’s love and His ways when I think of him as a loving, perfect parent. He doesn’t stop loving any of us when we screw up but He does keep healthy boundaries. Many of us were raised with very poor boundaries and it shows. God knows who will repent and accept His forgiveness and who is so deep in sin and demons that the person will choose to spend their entire life actively sabotaging any possible reconciliation with Him. But even the figurative child who actively turns away and pursues every sinful act that becomes an obstacle to being close to God can still find their way back into perfect love, IF they choose to do so.

I love the saying that the most unlovable people need the most love because it is true. We cannot guilt people to God. We can’t scare them into loving and living for Him. It isn’t even our job to convict people. It is only through giving love THAT USES PROPER BOUNDARIES that we can plant a seed of God’s reckless love in the lives of the people who desperately need it – which includes you and me.