Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do. Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.” One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?” Then Jesus said, “Make the people sit down. “Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, “Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.” Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.”
We have all heard this scripture, or set of scriptures taught. It’s about how Jesus took a little boys lunch and fed five thousand people. I love this story. It reflects the love Jesus had for the people as well as his miracle working power.
Most times I hear it taught, it is taught from the perspective of the mighty miracle Jesus performed that day. But that mighty miracle would not have taken place if there had not been a little boy who was willing to share his little lunch that day.
So often we think that we don’t have enough to make a difference to God, but that is never the truth and we see that through this little lad. All he had was the lunch, his own personal lunch that his Mom had packed for him that day; some bread and two fishes. I can see him now, can’t you? He is jumping up and down, excited to go and see this Jesus everyone is talking about – he just wants to hear him teach from the scriptures and see him work a miracle. His Mom, being a Mom says ‘hold on, let me fix you some lunch, you will get hungry.’ I doubt they were very big fish because if they were a little boy couldn’t have carried them far. It was all he had.
He gave his lunch, or it was required of him, the Bible doesn’t say which, either way, he gave it to Jesus. Jesus blessed it, thanked God for it, and handed it out to the thousands AND THEY WERE ALL FED UNTIL THEY WERE FULL. How that same little boy must have felt at that moment. Oh what a story he had to run home and tell his Mom!
So many times in life we think we don’t have enough to give to God. We think our ‘small basket’ won’t be enough to make a difference to God or to His church. But that is a lie from the devil. God takes all the ‘littles’ we give and blesses them and multiplies them and feeds the masses.
At this time of year we are coming to the years end and I have been pondering on how God has brought us through another year. Oh, we couldn’t have done it by ourselves, YOU helped us come through another year of teaching, preaching and spreading the good news of the gospel. We are thankful for you! Much of that has come from ‘small seeds’ and ‘small baskets’ and all I can say is God took our little and blessed it and fed the multitudes. I thank God for that.
There have been times in my past that I only had change to give. I gave it and God blessed it and multiplied it.
I have not been able to stop thinking about the little boy and the small lunch he had. How he freely gave it and saw a miracle.
God has told us repeatedly this year that he is multiplying our seed. He is multiplying what we have given. If you doubt God can or will do that, look to the little boy with the fishes and loaves. Remind God of his blessing upon that offering and ask for the same blessing upon your offering.
You may not have $5,000 to give. You may not have $500 to give. You may not have $5 to give. You may only have five cents to give, so give it. Watch God multiply your seed sown.
Don’t wait until you have enough to feed five thousand. Give what you have and watch God multiply it and he and you together will feed the multitudes.
I just love this story, don’t you? Did you know that 1 denarii was equivalent to a day’s pay. That means it would have taken nearly six months income to do what God did in a small lunch offering. You may think you don’t have enough to pay off your home or your car, but you have something you can give and God will take that small offering and make it worth six months income. That is the mighty God we serve. Friends that is not a hundred fold return, or even a thousand fold return…that is an unlimited return on that seed. And, as we know, it didn’t stop there, there were twelve baskets full left over. Oh my Goodness. God did what he needed to do with that small lunch and had left-overs. I am believing the same for you this year. I am believing that YOU and I and this ministry are going to end this year stronger than we began – will you believe with me? Where two agree, it is done!!
