BIBLE PASSAGE:
Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something
to eat.” “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they
answered. “Bring them here to me,” he said.
(Matthew 14:16-18).
MEDITATION:
How big is your God? How capable is your God? Has your God ever
taken a small request and answered it in a large way?
This scripture is from a familiar setting where Jesus Christ fed 5,000
people with two fish and five loaves of bread. In man’s eyes, the
small amount of fish and bread were not (and are not) adequate to
meet the needs of 5,000 people. But we are not looking at an example
from man’s perspective, we are looking at it from the Lord’s viewpoint.
Whenever we take what we have and give it to the Lord to be used
according to His plan and purpose, we should not be surprised when
we see Him multiply what we give Him for accomplishing His will.
What we perceive as our ‘little’ becomes ‘much’ in the hands of God.
God doesn’t ask us to show Him our greatness; He asks us to yield
our will to Him. He is more interested in a willing vessel than He is
about a vessel filled with pride and things of this world. Too often
we try to figure things out on our own (with an assumption that we
don’t need God’s help). That type of attitude will never bring about
God’s will or fulfill His promises in us.
Our goal should be to ask God what His will is for our lives, instead
of spending an inordinate amount of time worrying about many other
things. When we compare our thoughts and our ways to His thoughts
and His ways, we can easily see how insufficient we are without Him.
The Bible is filled with people who had little, but placed their ‘little’
into the hands of God.
Examples:
– David defeated Goliath with only a handful of stones.
– Moses led God’s people out of captivity with only a staff in his hand.
– Paul surrendered his will to God so he could follow His directions.
– The little boy’s bread and fish fed 5,000 people.
– Samson accomplished God’s will when he yielded his strength to God.
In all these examples (and the list could be much longer), God simply
asked the individuals to place in His hands what little they had. Why?
Because through His Spirit, He would accomplish much through them.
We should never put limits on what God can do when we yield our will
to His will. What does it mean to succumb to His will? It means we do
the things He wants us to do as a replacement for fulfilling our selfish
desires.
We learn to trust and have faith in His ability to accomplish His will
and purpose for our lives; we appreciate that we belong to Him. We
anticipate how God will move in our lives and the lives of others, and
how He allows us to observe His actions as encouragement for us to
yield more to Him each day. Yielding to God doesn’t mean we should
do nothing, it means we invite His guidance into our lives and we are
willing to accept His transformation of us.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you
will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his
good, pleasing and perfect will.
(Romans 12:2)
And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the
Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image
with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the
Lord, who is the Spirit.
(2 Corinthians 3:18)
But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await
a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the
power that enables him to bring everything under his
control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will
be like his glorious body.
(Philippians 3:20-21)
ACTION:
Questions to consider:
– What are the issues and burdens I am struggling with?
– Am I trying to do everything within my own strength?
We need to stop focusing on our own abilities and give back to
God the little that He has given us. Why? So He can accomplish
His will in, and through us. We should never underestimate how
much God can do with what we have.
When we follow God’s instructions and receive His salvation, we also
receive two other benefits as part of the total ‘package’. God gives us
the Holy Spirit to help us navigate a sinful world as followers of His
Son, Jesus. We also receive at least one spiritual gift that we can use
when we follow His plan and purpose for us. It is a special gift from
our Creator to assist us in following His will for our lives.
In addition to the Holy Spirit and a spiritual gift, we receive another
‘bonus’ – God begins a process called ‘sanctification’ that transforms
us from being ‘selfish’ to becoming ‘selfless’. This is an important
process for Christians if we are to become more like the One we are
following – Jesus.
We should expect to see dramatic changes in our priorities, thoughts, words,
focus, habits, actions, and emotions. Why? Because when He ‘sanctifies’ us,
He is purging us of our unrighteousness and filling us with His righteousness.
Living more righteously requires releasing some worldly things we like, but
don’t ‘fit’ in with our new life of following Jesus and obeying our Heavenly
Father.
Question – Have you felt the Lord sanctifying your life?
If you have, then you know how He has shown you that some things
which seemed okay, should be considered as sin and disobedience.
This contrast means we must make a choice of either embracing
what God is doing in our lives, or rebelling and fighting against
His changes, because we want to ‘hold on’ to some sins we enjoy
and we have made a part of our lives.
If we consider ourselves as Christians, this could be a good checkpoint
for us to determine if we are moving closer to the Lord, or drifting away
from Him. If He is sanctifying us, we will begin to view sin in the same
way He does, and it will create a desire in us to distance ourselves from
unrighteous thoughts, words, fantasies, and actions.
Just as we might consider as ‘small’ the good things God has given us,
we might also consider some sins as being ‘little’. However, as we begin
to look at sins ‘through the eyes of God’, we will realize that He doesn’t
view any sins as ‘little’. This ‘little’ mentality is one of the ways Satan
tries to confuse us about what is right and wrong in God’s eyes.
When we are ‘sanctified’ by God, we will also begin to view others in
a different way. When Jesus met the woman at the well, He didn’t see
her as an adulterous whore who was hopelessly lost, did He? No, Jesus
viewed her as one of God’s creations who needed to be saved from her
sinful life. If Jesus saw her this way, should we be any different?
Think about this – Jesus was more qualified to see her as a sinner because
He had no sin in His life. But if we view others only as sinners, we are likely
overlooking the fact that we too are sinners, however we have had our sins
covered by the blood of the Lamb.
Where do we get the right to look down on others in any way? We should
be focused more on God’s mercy on us and how He is also merciful toward
others. If God can show mercy but we don’t, what is missing in our lives as
Christians?
Therefore, if you have any encouragement from being
united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any
common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and
compassion, then make my joy complete by being
like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit
and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition
or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above
yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each
of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships
with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.
(Philippians 2:1-5)
Pray,
“Heavenly Father, thank You for the examples in the Bible of
how You did so much with what those who love and worship
You, surrendered to Your will. Out of all the examples I have
read about, I hope I can be like Paul who gave up his will for
Your will. He didn’t become a part-time servant, he was ‘all in’.
Forgive me for the things I keep holding tightly in my grip that
are not pleasing to You. I want to not only grow closer in my
fellowship with You (and other believers), but I want to serve
You in whatever way You have chosen to use me. I know that
when I live my life within Your will, I will be blessed, and those
You put in my path will be blessed as well because I have become
a conduit to impact their lives. Thank You, God, for being an
awesome Heavenly Father to me!”
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