The Only Need

In athletics we do a good job of misusing the verb need. We need a win. We need new uniforms. We need this player to play well. We need to raise this much with our fund-raiser. We need to have everyone at workouts.

The only problem is we are not looking at the verb need right. When we use need, we use it to mean something we would like to have. All of the situations above are things any coach or athlete would like to have. Who would not like new uniforms every season? We should use need a little differently.

What would our life look like if we substituted a different definition for need? Maybe something like, “a need is something we must get or we will die.” Then we would go from needing new uniforms to needing air, food, water, and the water of life, Jesus Christ.