Message of the Week: Better Life for Everybody

Sam Adeyemi
Abraham Maslow, a renowned psychologist, researched human needs, trying to understand how human beings are motivated. He found at the core of human motivation, needs. Human beings strive to satisfy these needs and derive fulfilment from them. Furthermore, Maslow discovered that not all needs are at the same level, so he structured human needs into five levels and developed the 'Maslow Hierarchy of Needs'.

The first level, which is the lowest level, is Physiological needs – the need for air, sleep, food and drink. These are survival needs and survival is the strongest instinct in man, so the needs on this level are the strongest in man. Safety and Security needs are on the second level. On the third level are Social needs, the need for love and affection. Level four needs are Esteem needs – respect, status, reputation – gotten through competence at a skill. Lastly, the fifth level needs are for Self Actualization, the need to express your uniqueness, make a meaning out of life by serving others. Maslow stressed that not till the lower level needs are met will the higher level needs be priority. For example, respect and self actualization are the last thing on a person's mind whose survival needs are not met.

Jesus had a different opinion; He upturned all that Maslow theorized. In Matthew 6:31-34, Jesus said we should seek first God's kingdom then we'll get all the fulfilment we crave. This is a reverse order from Maslow's theory. We belong to God's kingdom and the principles that drive it differ drastically from the world's system. When we seek God's kingdom – His system of doing things first, it helps us set our priorities in the right order. On a national scale, re-ordering our priorities to align with God's principles will re-structure our nation and engender development.