Anyone growing up in the church knows the story of the feeding of the 5,000… a small boy… five small loaves… two fish… Jesus blessed it and fed the whole crowd with leftovers. Where did the bread and fish come from? John tells us that it came from someone else – a child. Most children in this country do not worry about where their next meal will come from. The parent provides and they eat. If the child was not hungry at the time, it would have been easy for him to give up the food – especially if he didn’t really like it anyway. Yet, he did give it and Jesus used it.
In the feeding of the 4,000 as told in Mark 8, Jesus asked the disciples, “How many loaves do you have?” Mark 8:5. The disciples have been traveling with Jesus. This is not a high salary ministry position. They live from day to day on what is provided to them by others. I wonder if they were tempted to say, “We have seven loaves here, but it is all we have and we don’t know if we will have anything tomorrow, so we had better keep this and make it stretch. We are already pushing it to feed 13 of us with only seven loaves!”
Jesus didn’t give them that option. He took the bread, blessed it, and shared it with the crowd. And amazingly, everyone was fed and there were leftovers. I wonder though if the real miracle was the willingness of the disciples to give up the bread – to let go of their daily sustenance and trust that God would continue to provide for them.
When I look at what God is able to do with that small offering, I wonder what He would do if all those who follow Him would be willing to give whatever they have to Him. It seems there would be no need in the world because when Jesus touches something and blesses it, it has a tendency to multiply and meet many more needs than it would if we hold it tight to ourselves.
Paul takes this idea into the emotional and spiritual realm as well. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” II Corinthians 1:3-4 It seems then that God does not bless us so we can hoard it all for ourselves, but rather so we can bless others. As we offer whatever we have to others, God blesses it, multiplies it and many more are blessed. It is a kingdom full of gracious giving – and everyone benefits!
When Jesus prayed, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” I wonder if He was envisioning this kind of giving, where we offer everything we have to Him to be used for His honor and glory, holding nothing back. It sounds like a bit of heaven to me.
Lord, please give me a kingdom perspective about all that I have. I offer it to you to multiply and use for bringing comfort and blessings to others, not just me. Thank you that I can trust you for provision each day. You are my Provider and I offer all that I have to be used for Your good purposes. Amen.
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