“In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.”

This Scripture (Judges 21:25, New International Version) always stands out to me because it seems so relevant to today.

We as a people are dissatisfied and want someone or something to take care of us.

But the King has already arrived.

A few thousand years ago, Jesus of Nazareth rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, a humble entrance for someone believed to be the son of God who would soon be betrayed by one of his disciples, condemned though innocent, nailed to a cross, ridiculed and left to die — only to rise from the dead three days later.

I get it. That story is wholly unbelievable. But it is also a story that has changed the world and millions of lives. If you’re a skeptic, I ask you to consider not immediately disregarding the story just because it’s farfetched.

Californians are growing less happy. It’s a slow decline, but a decline nonetheless. Riverside and Los Angeles are two of the five loneliest metro areas in the country. San Mateo County declared loneliness a public health emergency. And California was ranked the 10th loneliest state in the country.

If you are one of these people, Jesus might be able to help.

Studies find that actively religious people, including Christians, tend to be happier. This can be due to lots of factors, including healthier lifestyle, strong community support and service to others.

All of that is true for me. I do have a community within my church, I do generally lead a healthy lifestyle by rejecting excessessive and toxic behaviors (to the best of my ability, at least) and I am of service to others, which is rewarding. I don’t feel isolated or alone.

But there’s also something deeper and far more important. Being connected with God gives me a sense of completeness and satisfaction that nothing else can. This doesn’t mean I am always happy; in fact, this sense of completeness endures even in tough times.

So then why do I need Jesus if I have God? I am sinful. I’m filled with pride, lust, greed, envy and hate. I turn to false idols, and any relief provided is fleeting. All of this sinfulness creates a chasm with God that only Jesus can bridge.

When Israel was demanding a king throughout the Old Testament, it was a call for an earthly source of strength, protection and identity. This was seen as a rejection of God, because it ignored all of God’s faithfulness.

As a reader, it’s easy to side with God. But the Jews in the Old Testament are not unique in their rebellion from God. It is human nature.

To see this through an American lens, we might not be demanding a king, but we do tend to crave earthly solutions to our spiritual need for security, protection and identity. I’m not saying we shouldn’t have police and a competent government, or that we should not be proud to be American. But once we seek those things more than God, and believe that God isn’t faithful enough to provide for us, we find ourselves in the same position as Israel in the Book of Judges.

The Scripture above was repeated and often a precursor to judgment. Israel did finally get a king, and he was a major disappointment. Israel was constantly relearning the lesson that it did not know best and it was unwise to defy God.

I have no idea if we’re living in prejudgment times, and debating that is not the point of this column. Instead, the point is that seeking something other than God to make us whole will ultimately leave us unsatisfied. And that’s why we need Jesus.

Before coming to Jesus I really believed I was a mostly moral person, in my own eyes. I say mostly because there were times that I was obviously not being moral by any standard, but I could always explain it away as me just being human. And while there’s some truth to that, it’s not the whole truth.

Being a good person in my own eyes won’t get me to heaven, at least not according to the Word of God. While we all have our own experience, we don’t all get our own objective truth. And if there’s one thing about modern American society, it’s that we insist upon having our own objective truth.

While the Word of God sets a standard of which we are destined to fall short, the good news is that it’s at least consistent and it pushes us to be better than whatever standards we set for ourselves.

For example: Jesus said that not committing adultery was not enough. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said: “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

This means that what’s in our hearts is as important as our actions — this is a much higher bar.

Coming to Jesus and believing in God is an entirely personal matter. I can list reasons why believing in God is wise, but you still have to believe it for yourself – I can’t do that for you.

If you’re like me, maybe you want it to be true but still have doubts. That’s OK. What worked for me was telling God in prayer exactly where I was getting hung up and asking for help.

Then I took actions to try to find God, like going to church, talking to other believers and reading Scripture.

It changed my life. It could change yours too.

Matt Fleming is an opinion columnist for the Southern California News Group. You can find him on X @FlemingWords