In “What About Bob,” Bill Murray plays the neediest person in the world. He looks at his counselor, played by Richard Dreyfus, and cries, “I want… I want…. I need… I need….. give me… give me… give me!” It’s a funny line the way Murray says it and I’ve often used it in family situations as a joke or a rebuke of someone who said something that sounded like that! When I act needy, my family members will give me the line! There was a man like Bob in a church I attended years ago. From the moment I walked in the door, he was in my face asking for advice. Often he would follow me around the foyer and even into the sanctuary up to my seat talking, telling me stories about his week. Every sentence he spoke ended with “and….” so that he could pick up on it when he came up with something else. Eventually, I notice he stops to catch his breath, and I guiltily make a flimsy excuse to get away. Often, I would see him lingering around my area, waiting to catch me again. Whenever I think of this guy, I think of Bill Murray’s “I need…. I need….give me….give me…!!” You might know someone just like that!
Every once in a while, I catch myself being Bill Murray! I don’t want to be that way, but sometimes I feel I “need something” also! I need to remember that I really don’t have any needs that have not been met or are not being met by God through Christ Jesus because of His ministering Grace to my life. Paul tells us in Ephesians (1:3), “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing…” Now, I know I have all my “spiritual” needs met, but I have other needs, and they are often unfulfilled. But God’s grace goes there also! Peter says, “May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness…(2 Peter 1:2-3). Paul thanks the Philippians for their gift and tells them how helpful it was, but then he adds, “I’m not saying that because I need anything. I have learned to be content no matter what happens to me” (4:11).
If these verses aren’t clear enough, let me move on to Philippians 4:19. After Paul explains his contentment even while in prison, he goes on to say, “And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.” The attitude of contentment should be ours as we trust our lives, past, present, and future, to God. “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.”