DESIRES 6 and 7 Chosen and Included

I have connected these two desires because I believe they have a direct relationship with each other.
We all desire to be chosen.  Reflecting back to my childhood I remember being chosen to be the captain of our safety patrol, or simply when the guys were choosing up teams for a game and I was one of the first to be chosen.  It was also tough however to see how difficult it was for the boys who were chosen last.

"We desire to be chosen by someone to be in a special relationship.  We feel special and accepted.  We feel desired. When we feel chosen and included we create messages about ourselves that are congruent with God's truth about who we are: we are beautiful, we are special, and we are beloved."

On the flip side of being chosen is the need to be included.  All of us need to experience some type of community.  I am reminded that God said, "It is not good for man to be alone."   He created Eve as a helpmate to compliment Adam's aloneness.

Certainly a sense of belonging should start in our family, but the church should be high on the list as well.  There are many seekers out there trying to find a place where they can be accepted and loved for who they are.   While it may be discouraging that 80% of people are not into organized church these days, we do need to be reminded that people are still seeking to be included and accepted.

All of us in the church should feel the enormous responsibility of encouraging people to be included and chosen.  When these two basic desires are met, I believe we will see the back door of our churches closing at a more rapid rate.

TOUCH (5th human desire)

Let me give a quote from the book "7 Basic Desires.  "Jesus demonstrated the healing power of touch.  Jesus reached out and touched a man with leprosy, and the man was healed of it.  Lepers were not to be touched because they were considered unclean. How many of you feel that you are somehow unclean? 


God is, in truth, willing to touch you.  Jesus is touched by a woman who has had a flow of blood for twelve years.  Simply touching the hem of Jesus' garment is enough to heal her. When we seek to touch God and he seeks to touch us, it can be wonderfully healing.  When we touch each other in healthy ways, and when a husband and wife touch each other in non-sexual ways, it can be a wonderful experience of God's healing love." 


There are many of us who were brought up without a lot of affection.  There are some who received the wrong kind of affection.  The bottom line is that God put a desire in all of us for sexual and non-sexual touches.

Let me close with one illustration.  A friend of mine who is a police chaplain was present at the tragic Columbine shootings in Colorado.  Words could not describe the heartache.  Only words could never be enough.  But over the many of hours to follow, there were several officers and firefighters who just came up and touched my friend on the arm.  That is all they needed.  It was like they were tangibly touching God in their moment of sorrow.  Wow!  The power of touch.

Have you touched someone recently with love of God?  When is the last time you hugged your spouse and kids?   Does someone need a healing touch from you?