Which of these needs is most significant in your life right now ? Are you hungry for usefulness ? Thirsty for understanding ? Longing for connection ? Feeling grief or worthlessness ? Sick with anger , lust , or resentment ? Stuck in an emotional or spiritual prison ? might also at the same time do good to the internal person . ( Secrets of Heaven 9209.2 )
new church life : july / august 2017
Which of these needs is most significant in your life right now ? Are you hungry for usefulness ? Thirsty for understanding ? Longing for connection ? Feeling grief or worthlessness ? Sick with anger , lust , or resentment ? Stuck in an emotional or spiritual prison ? might also at the same time do good to the internal person . ( Secrets of Heaven 9209.2 )
To do good to the internal person we need to know what his spiritual needs are , and we can we learn these needs by determining who are spiritually hungry , spiritually thirsty , and spiritually strangers , naked , sick or in prison . People who are spiritually hungry want to do something good , something useful . People who are spiritually thirsty are eager to understand deeply and to learn . People who are spiritual strangers want to be introduced to the Lord and the Church , to make connections and become part of the community . The spiritually naked feel loss and grief , vulnerability , worthlessness and shame . The spiritually sick struggle with addiction to selfish desires , and spiritual prisoners are trapped by misunderstandings and false assumptions .
The six conditions sum up our spiritual needs . We need to be useful . We need to learn and grow . We need connection and community . We struggle with shame , grief and worthlessness . We need to overcome our hurtful desires . And we need freedom to act according to our conscience .
So I ask , which of these needs is most significant in your life right now ? Are you hungry for usefulness ? Thirsty for understanding ? Longing for connection ? Feeling grief or worthlessness ? Sick with anger , lust , or resentment ? Stuck in an emotional or spiritual prison ?
And if you know your own needs , can you identify the spiritual needs of other people in your life ? New Church teachings the say that “ people in the church certainly ought to know ” how to discern the spiritual needs of their neighbor . We should be able to look at another person and say , “ I think this person is hungry for usefulness ,” or “ I think that person is in a spiritual prison .”
If we don ’ t understand which class of the neighbor someone is in , that is if we don ’ t understand his true spiritual needs , we cannot effectively help him . We might offer a volunteer job to someone who is hungry for usefulness , or invite a spiritually thirsty person to a study group . But offering a study group to someone who is intensely grieving is like giving water to the naked . Offering a volunteer job to someone who can ’ t control his anger or addiction is like
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