My friend Rick (also pastor of our church), mentioned an idea last Wednesday which basically posits that there may be a hierarchy of spiritual needs similar to Maslow's Hierarchy of needs.
Maslow's hierarchy goes like this (from most to least necessary): Physiological, Safety, Love (and belonging), Esteem, Self-Actualization. You can't have any of the latter without attaining the former. Basically, when you have food, you can worry about protecting it (and yourself), etc.
So my question to you is, what does the spiritual hierarchy look like? I'll get the ball rolling with what I see as the base (certainly from a Christian perspective): Salvation. But what other spiritual needs are in the hierarchy? Let me know what you come up with.
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I would say that before Salvation there must be Humility. In order for God to offer us salvation He had to humble himself in the form of Jesus, and in turn, we must Humble ourselves before God and give Him control of our lives to recive God's humility towards us.
Then, there must be the need for Love and a willingness to give Love. Without the desire for Love or the desire to recive Love, be it on the part of God or on the part of the sinner, there can be no possiblity or even desire for salvation.
These are good observations. One really must have humility to not only come to a place of salvation, but stay in the presence of God. (Humble yourself and He will lift you up.) Love, of course, is not only a "Spiritual" need, but also would fit into Maslow's hierarchy as well.
I wonder, though, is humility a "need" - at least in the way I'm exploring needs? I think you're right, it's a necessity, but it's almost as if we need a different pyramid, maybe "character needs". The reason I say that is humility and love almost seems akin to hunger in Maslow's hierarchy - but not quite.
But let's go with your assumptions - you've gone down the pyramid, now go up. Humility, Love, Salvation. What comes next? Once we have salvation, then what do we need? (and what can't we have *until* we have salvation?)
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