I love movies that I can relate
to. Remembering Amazing Spiderman 2 – the main themes that are depicted so perfectly
in the movie, which are NEED and HOPE. Peter Parker is NEEDed by the New
Yorkers to feel safe in their community and fighting against bad people. He
HOPE to be giver of HOPE to his society. Peter NEED to know the truth of what
had happened to his parents and drawing the links of different events. He HOPE
the truth is that his parents did not abandoned him and discovering the truth
of all the links. Gwen Stacey NEED Peter to fight for her and not him just
letting her go because her father made him promise to stay away from her. She
HOPE that Peter is willing to risk life with her. MAX, the nerd who wants to
feel to be NEEDed in his own community of coworkers and people around him. One
statement of, “I NEED YOU” had given a glimpse of HOPE to Max. Because of his
great desire of wanting to feel needed, in the scene of the city with flowing
electricity and lights, when Spiderman took away his ‘fame’ when people had
noticed him, he was furious. Instead of being partners with Spidey, he decided
he is going to make people need him like how they need Spidey. He HOPE to be
seen by the world and people counting on him. Harry, a rich man’s son NEEDs
help with his genetic disease. With only a short time he had and his father’s
accomplice that wanted to take over the company, he was pushed to the point of
no return. Because of another man’s greed, he suffered the consequences of
being in NEED. He NEED his NEED to be fulfilled. He HOPE to be heal and not die
a horrible death. At the end, Spiderman lost hope because Gwen had died
snapping from his web. It is in Gwen’s speech, that Spiderman begins to see the
light of HOPE to fulfill a need.
NEED brings about positive or
negative responses. There are many needs in our world today that craves for our
attentions. The need to care and to be cared for. The need to give and be given.
The need to listen and be listen to. The need to speak up and shut up. The need
to take a stand. The need to pray. And the list goes on. I asked, what is then
a NEED that I can fulfill in my lifetime? Where then should I focus my
attention to? What are the drivers that drive me to the needs I see? With these
questions, HOPE comes to mind. HOPE gives life. Hope brings change. Hope gives
a positive kind of future.
In our world, everyone wants to
feel needed and wants their need to be fulfilled or answered. There’s a saying
that goes, ‘No man is an island’. This is because at the end of day, we are in
these positions of being needed and fulfilling our needs. However, our former needs
should not make us feel indispensable, where as our latter needs should not be
the key to how we relate to people (to just take what we want from people to ‘fulfill’
our needs). Also, we want to be HOPEFUL too. We want to be the ones that gives
people HOPE to live. However, we cannot sustain by giving people HOPE if our
source of hope comes entirely from ourselves. We will eventually come to a
point of drying out and needing to find the meaning of HOPE again for
ourselves.
In a Christian worldview, Jesus
is our source of HOPE which is the giver of life to our being. Tentatively, Jesus
will be our ultimate NEED in life. He should be ultimately the one thing that
our hearts desire most compared to many things that is in our life. Just like
how the song, ‘Jesus be the center of it all’ puts it; he ought to be in the
center of everything we do and everything we revolve ourselves by. From our
perspectives, to journey on this race of life, we NEED God in anything and
everything we do. We can rely on our own strength to run this race. It’s
impossible. It’s impossible to say, ‘God, I got this life thing all figured
out. I even GOT us figured out! I know I am strong in You no matter what
happened…….’ But, the fact is we can never figure who God is ultimately. We
only catch a GLIMPSE of who He is. We can never say for sure how strong we will
REMAIN in Him. This is because we are human. Our eyes and perspectives will be
clouded with disillusionment when we began to rely on our own strength to carry
on this faith. We NEED God to grow even more hungry for His WORD. We NEED God
to grow our faith in Him. We NEED God to overcome every single temptations that
comes our way. We NEED God to help us see His fingerprints in our journey of
life. We NEED God to teach us to be patience, to wait, to learn, to unlearn, to
relearn, to forgive, to give, to praise, and more…in every aspects of our life,
WE NEED HIM! Why? Because He gave us HOPE to venture on this life even how
difficult it may seems to travel on. How then do I remained in this HOPE of
God? By discovering Him through His Word and experiencing living in Spirit with
Him.
That brings me back to the few
questions I had asked earlier, “What is then a NEED that I can fulfill in my
lifetime? Where then should I focus my attention to? What are the drivers that
drive me to the needs I see?” The needs I see to be fulfilled in other people’s
life is driven by the compelling HOPE I found in my Saviour. Even in my focus
of my attention to it. I yearn to do a lot of things, however to do a lot of
things is to go on a road that will not divide my attention to it which do not
allowed me to give my best in it. So, I’ll continue to fix my eyes on Jesus
Christ no matter what happens and be faithful in the small things He had given
in my life.
Where is your HOPE?
What drives your
NEED?
