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Does God need us?

God has everything that He needs for both Himself and for us contained within His very being. He describes Himself as: "I AM WHO I AM" (Exodus 3:14). God is, which even goes beyond Him having everything. He lacks for nothing. God says in Psalm 50:10–12, "'For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine.'"

God has everything already, so He does not need anything, but we need Him. "The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything" (Acts 17:24–25). In His goodness, God generously gives us everything that we need. "He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" (Romans 8:32). Not only does God provide us with life and breath, He loves us: "We love Him because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19, NKJV).

After the fall of mankind, man was separated from God (Genesis 3:23; Romans 3:23; 6:23). This separation was an irreparable barrier between man and God that only Jesus, God's son, could remove. God knew that His love and desire for relationship with us would end up costing Him everything. He sent Jesus to earth to become the perfect sacrifice, the atonement for our sins and our bridge back to God: "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).

Jesus Christ came to earth, lived a perfect life, and was brutally crucified—bearing the weight of the world's sins on Himself. God turned away from Jesus while He was on the cross, rejecting humanity's evil that Jesus had taken on Himself (2 Corinthians 5:21). While He was on the cross, Jesus experienced separation from God and cried out: "'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'" (Matthew 27:46).

When Jesus died, He took the penalty for the sins of the world on Himself, which includes our sins. He was resurrected from the dead after three days and ever since then, the way to God has been free and open for all willing to take it. "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit" (1 Peter 3:18). Jesus brought the opportunity to have a relationship with God; in Him we can have eternal life: "'And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent'" (John 17:3).

So, God does not need us, but He loves us and desires us to have eternal life (John 1:9–18; 3:16–18). He has made a way for us to have eternal salvation and a relationship with Him through Jesus. We cannot do anything to deserve His love, but he gives it to us freely. "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8).

If you are uncertain of your relationship with God, please see our article "How can I accept Jesus as my personal savior?"

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