Verses 10-16 tell Dr. Luke’s version of the event when Jesus fed 5000 + people when he originally only had five loaves of bread and two fish. The Bible tells is in verse 16 that Jesus looked towards heaven blessed the bread and began serving the people. Verse 17 goes on to say that they all ate and had 12 baskets of food leftover. Now, to my human mind this seems a bit unbelievable. How about yours? However, when I use my spiritual heart & being, I am amazed at our loving Creator and dumbfounded by the disciples lack of creativity! What do I mean by my latter statement? Well, let me tell you. The disciples had been with Jesus for a while at this point and even had personally experienced the power to heal the sick, so why didn’t they think to exercise the power of God in this situation? Earlier in verses 12 & 13 they told Jesus to send the crowds away and made gestures about how did He expects to feed all them. Hindsight is 20/20 though, right? The reality is that most Christians today operate just like the disciples did in this event. You know, having faith for some things but not others. I think we’ve all done it. I think they call this “putting God in a box”. I guess it’s a symptom of our fallen nature. We need Him but we just want to do it on our own and tell God what to do, how to do it and what to give.
Ok, Let’s go back to verse 16 for a minute: Jesus looked toward heaven, blessed the bread and began handing out food. Jesus knew the need, thanked His Father for what He had, and acted on faith. Wow! Imagine the results we could have in our lives and the lives of others if we fully trusted our Creator and put our thoughts, dreams and goals into action. The heavenly Father knew Jesus thoughts, He knew Jesus needs and in this instance no words were needed the only thing needed was faith and action. How many more hungry people could be fed, if we simply acted? How many more business could be established for the Kingdom? How many bodies could be healed? How much more peace, happiness, and fellowship could be happening if all the followers of Christ thought more about the eternal instead of the internal?
I challenge you today to ask the Lord how you can be a blessing to Him? How you can make an eternal impact? Stop thinking only about simple things like homes, cars, clothes, and money. Yes, these things are nice and good to have but they cannot be priority in our lives. They cannot be the reason why we exist. Our Creator wants us to have good things but He first want us to have a great relationship with Him and heart that desires to serve others. Good things will be given to those who give and serve others. I speak from experience I tried it the wrong way and lived a large portion of my younger years miserable, always seeking, searching and never happy. Now I make it my mission to stay focused on the eternal rewards. I’m human, I falter at times but I know what I know and the more I seek to deepen my relationship, the more I give to others and the more I act on faith…the sweeter life has been!
Trust, Give & Grow,
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