I know you have your agenda, full of meetings and bullet points on your “To Do” list. But, in the midst of it all, what are you really to do?
You are to feed people around you with bread from heaven.
Real Life Lesson
Jesus was saddened by the death of His friend John the Baptist. He went to be alone, but the crowds followed Him (Matthew 14). Jesus laid aside His personal agenda and (as always) picked up the agenda of His Father.
“When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick” (v. 14 NASB).
As the day wore on, the disciples got worried and said to Him,
“This place is desolate and the hour is already late; so send the crowds away, that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves” (v. 15).
But Jesus said to them,
“They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat!” (v. 16).
The disciples wanted to pass this responsibility to others. But Jesus placed the task squarely on their shoulders. At this point, an amazing lesson was about to occur. A lesson for the disciples, the crowd, and us. A lesson we must learn because we will encounter many people—today and every day—with incredible needs.
Our Limited Resources
The crowd was over 5,000 men. It could have been 15,000–20,000 people! The clueless disciples looked to themselves, pooled their resources, and discovered that all they had was a small boy’s lunch of five loaves and two fish.
We are like that. We look to our meager resources and see that—in ourselves—we do not have what it takes to feed the crowd.
You will find yourself there today. Someone you encounter will have great needs, and you may instantly assume there are no resources to meet those needs. But you would be wrong.
His Resources
Jesus wanted them to see that providing for others is not about our resources, but about God’s. And heaven has an inexhaustible supply.
Giving Our All to Him
Jesus wanted them to take what they had and give it to Him. When they gave Him the boy’s lunch, He took it, looked to heaven (the real source), blessed the food, and begin to break and distribute the loaves.
You know the rest of the story.
“They all ate and were satisfied. They picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve full baskets” (v. 20).
Heaven had enough. It always does. When we set our mind on things above, as Paul instructs us in Colossians 3, we will see this. We will never be daunted by our limitations or turn away those who are in real need.
What Is Your Task Today?
It’s simple. You are to look around you at the needs of those God brings into your path. You are to offer to feed them. You are to take your meager resources and give them to God, looking up to heaven for the supply.
You will discover that God will use you in ways beyond imagining. And people will be fed and satisfied with the Bread of heaven.