From Shadows to Significance

“I want to reach those who are dwelling in the shadows and bring them into the significance of their intended destiny…” I heard these words whispering in the stillness of my predawn devotions one October day. Do you ever hear the whispers of God? You know, like in those moments of stillness when you feel the heartbeat of Love.

His whispers come to us while sharing the pain of a grieving friend or in the compassion we feel when catching the hallow gaze of one of the lost souls of the city pushing their possessions in borrowed shopping carts.

The photo I was looking at was from a friend. She’s an artist who paints on stage at a very popular annual conference that attracts the faithful, and the curious, to Northern California from all over the world.

In the photo were hundreds of “worshippers” with arms raised all facing the same direction and from that direction came a cascading light. As I sat in the stillness, my eyes were drawn into the shadows. One person illumined by the stage’s radiance, cast a shadow on the person behind them until those further back were shrouded completely in the shadows.

I realized the “shadow-dwellers” were not of the unfortunate who didn’t arrive early enough to position themselves closer to the incandescent stage, but another kind of shadow-dweller. The heartbeat of Love was whispering His thoughts about those languishing in the shadows of irrelevance.

Many hungry souls in that environment are longing for, and seeking, the God of Heaven. Others, perhaps, are seeking only God-Knows-What. Sometimes we lose touch with our hearts, and our vision, when blinded by the radiance and allure of personalities, performances and platforms.

God actually DOES know what we long for. After all, He created us like this. “In the beginning, God created…” the Holy Scriptures begin in Genesis. The word “God,” more a description of His nature than His name, means the Self-Existent One. He is first of all Creator and Originator of All Things.

The Hebrews used the word “Abba” when referring to God which means “Source”; the English transliteration is “Father.” The One we call “Father God” is the Self-Existent One, who needed no one or nothing outside Himself to create everything in existence, both the seen and unseen.

Another way of saying it is, “God is the Father, Creator and the Source for all of us.” He knows our needs because He put them there. My deepest needs are God’s design.

God created us with core needs we humans all have in common. They are needs that motivate us to pursue a Source to not only remain alive, but also for thriving in life.

We are motivated by the drive to meet those intrinsic needs. When needs go unmet, something feels missing and eventually we become weakened and withered.

Experts tell us there are Seven Fundamental Human Needs or rather, categories of needs. Different people, in different seasons of life, will fall at different places on the spectrum of each of the categories of human needs.

The Big Question to answer is, do you feel you deserve to have your needs met? All of your needs? An even bigger question perhaps is, “do you believe you have the power to influence your future by the choices you make to get those needs met?”

The first category of needs is called Subsistence—the right to exist. Within the category of Subsistence are other needs that support subsistence like safety, self-care and security. Some try to deny extremely vulnerable humans this most basic of needs—the need to be alive.

As you observe the ascending category of needs, they appear to evolve as one category supports the next. The second category of needs is for Understanding and the Development of one’s potential. If all the air were sucked out of the room you’re in right now, what would happen to your interest in reading this article?

You wouldn’t care about anything except getting air. Survival would be your only motivation. But once you’re breathing again, you no longer struggle.

Satisfied needs don’t motivate. It’s only the unsatisfied needs that motivate.

Once a need is met, we become aware of other needs we have. The third category is the need for Connection and Love. Relationships are the containers that carry the healing balm of love. Being loved and understood is like the emotional oxygen needed for thriving as we continue experiencing and unfolding our unique design.

This is where life becomes tricky. The fourth category is the need for Contribution and Creativity. We all long to add value and to make the world a better place through our brilliance. At our core, we are not only created beings, we are creative beings. Creativity should be an everyday experience. Creativity should be as common as breathing. We breathe; therefore, we create.

Erwin Mcmanus reminds us that, “To deny our creative nature is to choose a life where we are less and thus responsible for less. We see ourselves as created beings, so we choose to survive. When we see ourselves as creative beings, we must instead create.”

The fifth category of needs involves the shaping of a healthy self-esteem and sense of Identity. Esteem has to do with respect earned as a result of our contribution to our world and that in turn, helps form our identity. Feeling positive emotions about our lives brings clarity, which drives us to persevere, and that, inspires the people around us.

Something seems to break down and thus stifles motivation for many of us in the hot pursuit of our dreams. The next two categories of needs are often suppressed through the years of disappointments, set-backs and shattered dreams within our human experience.

The need for Self-Governance, when thwarted, causes us to settle for less in life. When we stop reaching, we begin feeling deflated and negative feelings gather like storm clouds on a sunny day.

One of our highest needs is for Significance. We need to know from our last breath that we’ve lived a worthy life. When we lose our motivation, we lose a sense of relevance and we begin slipping into the shadows. It’s then that we become mere observers of others still chasing their dreams.

Somewhere between Self-Esteem and Significance, we get lost. When we lose our way, it’s easy to slip off the field and into the bleachers of life where shame tells us it’s safer to watch the superstars perform than to put ourselves out there again.

There is a story in the Gospels that speaks to this condition among us. We know him as Blind Bartimaeus. What a poor pathetic reality! My wife often reminds me the day of your greatest breakthrough begins like any other day.

I imagine Bart’s day began like any other day. He made his way to the side of the road, posturing to beg for his daily sustenance. But the day he met Jesus would be a day like no other.

Bartimaeus’ blindness left him needy and desperate. When we lose our vision, we become beggarly as well. Cloaked in garments of shame, we sink into shadows, weakened by opportunity blindness.

On the day of his break-through, he heard Jesus and the crowd coming down his road. He began to shout over the din of the crowded streets. He cried out for mercy from the Miracle Worker. Many around him began to demand him to be silenced and stop creating a disturbance. Have you ever felt silenced? Have you lost your voice? Have you ever had people shushing you into silence so your story goes untold?

Jesus summoned blind and tattered Bartimaeus to stand before him and asked him a simple and obvious question of a blind man standing before him. “What do you want me to do for you?” Why make something so obvious a point of emphasis? It’s all about the question: “What do you want?”

If you had Jesus right in front of you and he asked you, what do you want? What would you say to your Source? What is driving you? If you were that blind man would you not start with your deepest longings, that the dream that seems too-good-to-be-true, could actually come true?

A lot of us might be like Bartimaeus, except we are asking for less than our deepest longing. “Lord, could you give me sight in one eye? Could you give me a service animal to guide me? Possibly make me a cane that I can tap through the streets?”

He said “I want to see.” Is it possible that you are not living the life of your dreams because God has asked you what you want and you are asking for way too little? Have we been willing to settle for much less than our dreams because of low self-esteem?

Look deeper into this story, and listen for the whispers of God. Blind Bartimaeus, the beggar, was how he was known — a shadow-dweller. But Bartimaeus was not really his name, it was Timaeus. Look deeper and listen.

In Greek transliteration, within the name, Bär-tē-mī’-os, is the word “Bar” which is a masculine noun meaning Son. Literally, Timaeus, the son of Timaeus, he was named after his father. Some translations have defined this name as Son of the Unclean.

People saw him as an unclean, irrelevant man of an unclean, irrelevant dad. Listen in the stillness. Why would this man cry out in spite of those who tried to shame him into silence?

You see, lost in translation was the etymology of his name in the ancient text spoken in Aramaic. Timaeus means “Highly Prized.” A son, highly prized? Did he lose his sight? Was he once useful and relevant, but somewhere on his life journey, he lost his vision? Once we lose our vision, we lose a sense of relevance. We become shadow-dwellers letting the world pass us by.

The WORLD saw a blind beggar, the son of a despised father. Jesus saw a Highly Prized man with a destiny to fulfill if he could only see it!

Listen for the whispers of God, He’s calling for you. What was inside that man that he found his cry when others are shushing him? He knew he needed to find his voice, and receive his vision. Because he mattered.

In the presence of the One who designed him, he knew he was coming home. He was coming back to his Source.

Jesus said, “Your Father knows what you have need of before you ask Him.” Of course He does, He designed you. He built Needs into your design to motivate you to pursue. The need for significance is as powerful as the need to breathe.

It’s imperative that you believe You Matter! You are not the only one who suffers if you choose to live your life in the shadows. Your family and friends suffer and all those who are waiting on the other side of your obedience to your High Call. It’s time to stand up, throw off the cloak of shame, let something rise inside you, reclaim what was lost.

Many have tried to shush you into silence but it’s time to find your voice. Jesus came to bring out the best in you. Hear His whisper. It’s time to emerge from the shadows and embrace your God-designed significance.

It’s time to get back into the game.