06.08.2023 Lessons from a Spontaneous Banquet: Multiplication

They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” And he said, “Bring them here to me.” Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.

God invites us to join Him in the things He is doing. When He does, the things we have to accomplish the task before us often appear to be insufficient. The disciples, charged with feeding five thousand people discover that all they have to work with is five loaves of bread and two fish. With the disciples at a loss for what to do, Jesus provides the solution. “Bring them to me.” When we bring to Jesus what we have He makes it enough. A church in Ohio was trying to reach their changing neighborhood. When asked, “What do you have?” They discovered that they had a room filled with typewriters. In the age of computers what good are typewriters? When they presented them to Jesus in prayer He provided the answer. The families that lived around them could not afford computers, so their children were at a disadvantage in school because they lacked keyboard skills. The congregation cleaned up their typewriters and offered typing classes for their community. The first day more than twenty of their neighbors showed up. By the end of the first round of typing classes their Sunday School had doubled in size as the people responded to their generosity by joining them on Sundays. When we bring what we have to Jesus, no matter how insufficient it appears, Jesus can do something glorious with it. So, let me ask you, “What do you have?”

Lord Jesus, what I have seems meager to meet the challenges You have invited me to join You in meeting. As I bring them to You, multiply their impact and be glorified. Amen.

Anything under God's control is never out of control. ― Charles R. Swindoll

We may give without loving, but we cannot love without giving. — Bernard Meltzer