Resource/Need - Acts 10:45

Acts 10:45

And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles.

This is such a picture of the reciprocal nature of resource - need.  We/I see myself as as the resource and others as the need, a form of arrogance I would add. Yes, sometimes I see it as the other way around and am in a "take" mode, sucking the life from the resource.  The truth is that in a cosmos that derives its nature from the One who is a relationship, the order of the universe is relational, healthy interactions are always reciprocal and have the resource - need that flows both ways.  In an odd way their need is the very resource I need.

Cornelius was very aware of what He needed and God could have given him all he needed in the vision, but God knew that Peter and those with him needed to see the full measure of who the Gospel was intended for.  Peter's perception at the beginning is that he was in the "have" seat, but found in the process that He, like Cornelius needed something more.  Peter an his friends have their understanding of the bigness of God expanded by their participation  in God’s grace to Cornelius and company.  God uses each of their needs and then each of them as a resource for the others need to properly understand Him.  Such a picture of a trinitarian relationship, how cool is all that?

We, mankind differ from God in this respect.  He does not need us, He is complete in the Trinity, we are the result of His overflow and are dependent on it for our existence.  Our inherent deficiency is what is noted in Gen 2 when God notes that Adam is not complete, he has no one to overflow into as God fills him.  So God created Eve, someone with a need into whom Adam can truly be a resource while at the same time being a reciprocal need for her to overflow into.  Adam and Eve both are not their own resource, but receive all their resources from God, they are conduits for God in this relational exchange.

This dynamic helps us understand why we are not complete in ourselves, we must have one another to experience this give/take or we cannot be fully human, but we must have Life breathed into and through us to be truly alive.

**3/3/20 This is one of what I hope will be a regular entry in my blog.  This is a shift from what I have done in the past which has mostly been episodic accounts of things I experience in life.  I may continue to post more of the same from time to time, but the drift of the blog, at least for now, will be my observations, prayers, questions, and grappling with the Bible as I read through it over the next two years with some friends.  We are together following a 2 year reading schedule and meeting monthly to compare notes.  Your comments are welcome and if you are interested in what the reading schedule looks like reply in comments and I will be glad to send it to you.