“Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” John 6 : 1-15
Jesus asks a question to His disciples knowing the answer. He asks them, what are they going to do to feed the multitude of people. Imagine, you’re following your leader around and he turns to you with a question like this. Do you panic? Do you lie and make up a solution to sound good? What do you do? Jesus wanted to know where their faith lied. I’m not going to lie, I’d probably question the thought of feeding so many people. The disciples answered with what they knew was available, but they also answered with doubt, just as I’m sure most of us would have.
So here you have a little boy with this lunch/meals for the day. First off this was a little boy, not an adult. ( Mat 18: 2- 4. Jesus tells us to humble ourselves when we come to him so that we can inherit the kingdom of God.) So you have a child who came to God as he was with what he had. That’s the first thing about a disciple that stands out to me. When you hear God calling you to become His disciple (which everyone has that call) how are you going to answer? Will you answer with doubt or with humility?
God said to feed my people. He said to cloth them. He said to serve them. So when Jesus asked the disciples the question, He was saying how will you serve these people? It’s a question that He is asking us today. When we are walking with God, He may very well turn to us at any moment and ask, how will you feed or serve these people. This could be the person in the grocery store, in the classroom, at home, etc. God wants all that you have so that it can be used. We must understand that it’s not up to us how things will be used, but we have to be willing to humble ourselves to give all that we have for His glory. It’s up to us to say, Lord, here Lord.
Out of 5000 MEN plus women and other children…. Only ONE little boy had and offered what he had to God. Do you really think that he was the only one with food? I doubt it.
It’s not to discredit any of those people because many of them came to Jesus during this time. But only ONE was close enough to Jesus and had something he wasn’t trying to hold onto. Imagine the heart of the little boy as he gave. We have to stop looking at what we have and defining it on our own terms. What is God asking of you? Pray over all that you have, and ask God how He can use you and the things you have.
Are you going to be part of the 5000 that just get fed, or will you be part of the miracle? That’s the difference between someone who goes to church and someone who is the church. It’s time to serve God with all that we have.
Prayer:
Lord, thank you for blessing me. I cannot say I have much, but what I have is yours. I cannot say I understand all that you will do, but I trust you. Lord, all that I have is yours, please take it and do what you will with it. In Jesus name, Amen.