BIBLE READING FOR THE DAY:
When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?" He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. Philip answered him, "It would take almost a year's wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!"
Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, "Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?" Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.
When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted." So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
--John 6:7-13
THOUGHT: This is one of Jesus' more famous miracles: feeding the five thousand. I can just imagine Jesus, looking at the situation, smiling as he asks Philip, "well, what are we gonna do with this?" amused at Philip's horror at the impossibility of the situation in human eyes. To have thousands of people hungry at our hands-- they need dinner, so what are we gonna do? While Jesus, all along, is unconcerned and excited to do his version of the dinner-table card trick... well, more like give several thousand people one of the coolest, most amazing gifts ever. He has the excitement of a best friend at your birthday or a parent at christmas...
But the coolest thing about this miracle, I think, is hidden in the middle. Did you see it? The little boy. The little boy had offered up the food he had brought-- just a small insignificant boy, with a small insignificant amount of food, offering to help the situation. Jesus always loved the small people-- the children, the elderly, the lonely. And think of how excited this boy must have been to be such a big part of one of Jesus' greatest miracles!
Jesus accepted help from a little boy, and then took what the boy offered and multiplied it-- until it overflowed into so much plenty that there were 12 baskets of leftovers!
CHALLENGE: What if we were like the little boy? What if we could offer God small gifts of our own? What if he took and multiplied anything we gave him, and then those things could bless and help all the people around us? Think of the things you could offer God that he could multiply. Maybe it's service in a small capacity where you live, or in your city. Maybe it's a spirit of grace, or love, or joy, or peace that you offer to a friend with God's blessing, and then see that friend offer it to others, and let it multiply over and over again. Maybe it is a real miracle that God's going to work!
I think one of the forms where it's easy to see this sort of God-multiplication is in what we do with our money... I've found that when I spend my money selfishly, or hoard money, it seems to disappear. But when I give away my money freely or spend it on the things of God, it multiplies-- it seems like the money comes back to me, multiplied, and that whatever the money was spent on just multiplies God's goodness in the world over and over again... until what seemed like a lack comes to seem like plenty, with generosity everywhere.
So give a shot at God's math sometimes this week. Try offering something to God-- no matter how insignificant and small, and ask to see it multiplied. See what happens!
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