“Nothing, I don’t need anything.”

Prior to this past Christmas I found myself saying something I previously had only heard elderly folk say. My wife plied the question: “I need some ideas for what to get you for Christmas. What do you want?” That’s when I said it: “Nothing, I don’t need anything”—which translates as, “I’m not wanting (desiring) anything.” I was both startled to hear the words coming out of my mouth and saddened. I was saddened, not that I had just revealed myself as officially having become “old,” but also because I had lost joy in the yearning for some special gift, the anticipation of the prospect of receiving it, and the thrill upon opening it. This was a right of passage I did not welcome. I should have just felt a warm satisfaction that if I did not need anything and did not want anything, I was blessed and content. Being blessed and content are grounds for deep gratitude. Yet, I was saddened upon recognizing I was no longer excited about getting something I had been longing for. My having lost that desire and saying, “I don’t need anything,” was in reference to material things. My melancholy musings over this loss of need/desire for a Christmas gift, compelled me to think of how much a greater sadness I should experience when I find myself responding the same way in reference to spiritual things. Today, our church begins revival services—consecutive services scheduled with the anticipation of and opportunity for seeking spiritual renewal. Just the advent of the services begs the question of each in our church including myself: “What do you want?” It is a sad state to be indeed when our visceral response is what mine was to the inquiry of what I wanted for Christmas. “Nothing, I don’t need anything.” Materially, that response may indicate contentment and blessing. Spiritually, it indicates a very unhealthy spiritual state, one of apathy, complacency, dullness, or other non-salubrious conditions. Spiritually, to say “I don’t need anything” is really a confession saying, “I don’t want anything.” Or, vice versa. Spiritually, it is very easy to confuse our needing and our wanting. It is easy to conclude that, if I do not desire something spiritual, I do not need something spiritual. In fact, the one with the greatest spiritual need is the one who supposes he has no spiritual need. To not desire spiritual things is to be in desperate need of spiritual things. A definite indicator of dire physical illness is chronic loss of appetite. None need to eat like those who have lost the desire to eat. To have no spiritual appetite indicates a great spiritual need. All of this speaks to the dichotomy between perceived and real needs. All this about Christians’ saying, “Nothing, I don’t need anything,” really happens. It is a real spiritual sentiment, one for which Jesus rebuked the Church of Laodicea: “ ... thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing…” (Rev. 3:17a). There they said it: “Nothing, I don’t need anything.” Their self-assessment was arrogantly inaccurate. Jesus continued: “and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:” (Rev. 3:17b). Their perceived need was grossly incongruent with their real need. When I responded to the question about a Christmas gift with “Nothing, I don’t need anything,” I felt content, satisfied, and a bit proud for my humble lack of lust for material things. In response to the prospects of revival when I say, “Nothing, I don’t need anything,” I should feel alarm of what decayed and degraded spiritual shape I’m in. Both are saddening. It’s too early to make a 2020 Christmas list of gifts we’d like to receive. But, perhaps, we should ask God to help us make a 2020 revival list of things we really need.

“Nothing, I don’t need anything.”

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