A man walks into a barber shop to get his haircut and beard trimmed. As the barber and himself begin to talk their conversation turns to God. Inevitably, the barber concludes that God cannot exist, for when he walks outside he sees the orphan, the sick homeless guy, the abandoned child. Surely, an all-loving, all-powerful God would not allow this in His world. The man, not wanting to get into a debate chooses not to respond to the barber's claim. He finishes his haircut, then walks outside. He runs into a man with long, dirty hair and an unkempt beard. Immediately, he runs back into the barber shop and says, "You know what, Barber's don't exist." The barber looks at him, laughs to himself and says, "What do you mean, barber's don't exist?" The man says, "Well just look outside this window. Surely, there wouldn't be any long-haired, dirty-haired, unkempt-bearded people out there if barbers existed." The barber looks at the man and says, "Ah, but barbers DO exist. It's just that those people don't come to me."
When I read this story over and over again, I come to the understanding that this story does not always answer our question. But, in a way, maybe it does. If we are all sinful people as the Bible tells us we are (Romans 3:23), then would it not make sense to assume that we don't always visit the barber? Sure, sometimes our hair is clean, and we're waking up every morning to have quiet time, keeping in the Word, praying, and living a life, that we think, is according to His will. However, our hair quickly becomes dirty when we see the homeless man on the side of the street and refuse to acknowledge him, or when we neglect to give more money to a cause because we NEED THAT MONEY to buy that new video, book, or electronic device, or when we act or use words that are not pleasing to God.
Lately, I have been challenging myself and others with this question of NEED. I will hear myself or others say, "Oh, I really NEED this or that." And, in turn, I will say, "Do you really NEED it, or do you just WANT it?" When we really sit down and think about what we NEED in life, it's not much. We need water, food, warmth... and beyond that I can't really think of anything we NEED physically. So, why do we "store up treasures on earth?" We know that they will all perish along with us. Yet, when we see the homeless man on the street asking for some money or when the offering plate is passed to us in church, how often do we throw in a buck or two, because we NEED that money.
I refer back to the story I told about Rick, and there are tens of other stories to similar to this to only further drive this point. Rick had clothes (warmth), some beef jerky in his backpack (food), and he knew where to go to get water. Other than that, Rick had nothing... EXCEPT THE WORD OF GOD. What sustained him? What kept him going? He did not have the newest Iphone, an Ipod, a computer, hardly any money, a credit card, excessive amounts of clothes, an education, a dental plan, and so forth. But, Rick, who is forced to live with NOTHING showed me that he has EVERYTHING HE NEEDS. How many times throughout the Bible does God tell us He will provide, sustain, comfort, protect, love??? Hundreds, thousands! Yet, we still try to provide, sustain, comfort and protect ourselves! God has taken care of it already. Maybe it's an issue of trust. Maybe greed. Maybe selfishness. Whatever it is, we have to remember that EVERYTHING WE NEED IS IN GOD. It's in His Word. It's in His eyes. It's in our hearts!
It's time for me to go get my haircut.
Such a good reminder about the Rick and those things (few and far between) which truly qualify as NEEDS!
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