All Our Needs | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: All Our Needs | Previous Challenge Entry
By Pam Vashaw
06/10/09
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The two men walking down the street were clearly full of the good things money can buy. Their stylish clothing couldn’t hide their well rounded figures as they strode through the streets that warm afternoon. The skeletal beggar sitting listlessly at the side of the road was a nauseating contrast to their healthy appearances.

Obviously both men had everything they wanted. And yet, a strange, burdened look haunted the face of the first man. Passersby looked at him and scowled as if he were a leper. He stumbled as he passed the beggar, and his empty eyes looked only down at the street.

Not far behind was the second man. His fat face beamed with contentment. He caught sight of the beggar and smiled benevolently. Looking around at the people nearby, he noisily deposited several coins in front of the poor man. Murmurs of approval rippled through the crowd making the young man smile even more, as he nodded his head in greeting to all he passed. He slowed his pace so as not to catch up with the other man. How unfortunate to be going in the same direction as a hated tax collector!

He scowled a little when he saw the tax collector enter the temple before him. Then he brightened as he realized that this sinner made a perfect contrast to himself. Filled with a growing sense of self-satisfaction, he stood up in the temple and gave God the highest praise he could imagine, “Thank you, God, that I am not a sinner, or anything like this tax collector. Thank you that I follow all your rules to perfection!” He continued on in this way for some time, and when he sat down, he noted with satisfaction that the tax collector had not taken his eyes off the floor.

Trembling and full of both guilt and awe, the tax collector stayed on his knees, and offered his prayer to God quietly. “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”

The tax collector exited the temple as a changed man. He no longer looked beaten and empty, but rather filled with new purpose. He retraced his steps to the beggar and slipped him some coins and a loaf of bread. The lost and empty heart of the tax collector had finally been filled—he had been forgiven—and now the whole world looked different.

The world looked different to the other man, too. He had a puzzled look in his eyes behind his ever-present smile. Wasn’t prayer a duty that filled one up with righteousness? Why, then, was a gnawing emptiness growing inside? How could anything be missing in his perfect Pharisee world? He shook his head as if to rid himself of such foolish thoughts.

Paul, the apostle, also shook his head as he remembered this parable of Christ that his friend and traveling companion, Luke, had once shared with him. The story reminded him so much of his younger days. He was writing a letter to the church in Philippi, and, in the midst of warning them about legalism, he had paused to reminisce about his own legalistic background. How different I am now, he thought. Then I was rich; now I am dressed in patched clothing and possess scars in abundance. Then I was admired; now I sit in prison and am maligned by former friends. But--. He put his pen to paper, “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.” (Philippians 3:7, NIV)

Paul told the Philippians how he, a former Pharisee, had learned the same lesson as the tax collector—that his greatest need was not more self-righteousness or earthly comforts, but rather the forgiveness and righteousness of God that comes by faith. He paused again as he considered the generosity of the Philippian Christians. When hard times came, would they remain faithful?

He resumed writing by reassuring them with a promise that had never failed him: “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19, NIV).

“Amen,” Paul whispered as he scratched out the words, and his heart raised a silent prayer of thanksgiving that God in Christ had indeed met all our needs.

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