The Worth Of Knowing

“God didn’t need to [send Jesus to die on the cross, give us the Holy Spirit, preserve our faith, etc.].”

If I’ve heard it once I’ve heard it a hundred times. *cue my nervous laughter*

What are we actually saying when we say “God didn’t need to ____” and is it supported by Scripture?

I think the goal of this statement is normally that God did not owe it to us to save us. We did not earn salvation or any other blessings. We can find lots of Biblical support for this point (like Eph. 2:9).God never needs to give us any good thing because of us or something we’ve done for Him.

Often the “God didn’t need to ____” statement is not used to highlight God’s character, but to underscore our lack of worthiness and to illicit humble gratitude.

Personally, I find the statement to be very human and shame focused (do we deserve it? shame on us for not being more grateful!) rather than God and worship focused. It’s reminiscent of a frustrated parent saying “You know I don’t need to [make you food, buy you clothes, give you toys …]. Why don’t you go figure it out on your own!”

Imagine being that kid. Or imagine saying that to your child (or, if you’re like me and have said something like that, remember back to that time).

What feelings came up? Was that an affective way to encourage gratitude?

I’d argue that focusing on self and shame rarely results in gratitude to God. We can certainly train our minds to get to a place of gratitude from there, but it often requires traveling through the boggy waters of self-contempt and insecurity in our relationship with God.

Because the thing is, most of us have an inaccurate view of God. Our hearts wander and our minds contort God into something we are familiar with. When we hear things like “God didn’t need to [give us a blessing]” we might hear “God gave it begrudgingly so we need to be grateful and good or he’ll threaten to take it back” or “God gave it to us but is annoyed with us so we better obey him to make him happy” or any other number of things.

Without frequent and consistent reminders and examples of God’s character we are prone to create distorted views of him.

Not coincidently, frequently examining God’s character can encourage humble gratitude toward him. God’s good gifts to us spring from his character.

God’s goodness has nothing to do with us and everything to do with who God is. And, it turns out that God’s goodness is far greater than my unworthiness.

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.” James‬ ‭1‬:‭17‬-‭18‬ ‭NIV‬‬

There are no surprise children in God’s family. He chose us with delight. He showers us with good, perfect gifts and he enjoys it (Lk 12:32). He knows full well what it costs to bring us into his family and keep us there, but he does it anyway because of who he is (Mt 7:11). He is the Father of heavenly lights and he will not change.

Jesus says in Luke 12:32, “‘Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.’” (ESV)

Based on this and other verses like it, one could even argue that God does have to give us good things because it is the very essence of who he is. God is love (1 John 4:8). God is a good Father.

What feelings come up from this? Is it affective at encouraging gratitude?

Personally, I think this is a more God-centered, Biblical, and even trauma informed way to encourage humble gratitude for the undeserved, good gifts God’s given us.

For myself, I’m replacing “God didn’t need to give me [good gifts]” with “God takes pleasure in giving me these good gifts that I could never earn.”

God’s goodness is greater than my lack.