Before we lived in a parsonage we
owned a house behind downtown Jonesborough in a little subdivision with lots of
kids. Many nights, right about dinner time, several of my oldest daughter’s
friends would be at our house. Most of the time they just ate with us, but
there were times that I was thinking, “Can’t ya’ll go home to eat?”
That
was the same thought that Jesus’ disciples had one evening. Jesus had been
preaching all day and a crowd of thousands of people had gathered to hear him.
But as it got later in the day people started to get hungry. You know how you
feel at high noon every Sunday right? You’ve been listening to the preacher for
20 minutes and you need something to eat! These people had probably been
listening to Jesus all day, and now it was dinner time. What would they do?
This
story is told in the gospel of Mark 6:34-44. Take a few minutes to read this
amazing story….
The
disciples wanted to send the people away. Jesus wanted the disciples to feed
them. The disciples were focused on the problem. Jesus was focused on the
people. The disciples were focused on the fact that there wasn’t enough. Jesus
wanted them to give and trust Him to provide, a lesson that there is always
enough with Jesus.
When I
was growing up we ate most of our meals thanks to food stamps. Not the little
EBT credit card looking thing now, but the old paper stamps in the book. I am
thankful for that. But I grew up thinking that there was never enough. I grew
up thinking that at some point we would run out. There was always more month
than money. There never seemed to be enough.
This is
called a mindset of scarcity. It is a belief that leads to consumption that
leads to lack that leads to fear. This is where the disciples were that day.
“Send
them away”, they said. When we are focused on the problem that is our response.
We can’t help them, we don’t have enough. Send them away. Send them to another
place. Send them to another church. We don’t have enough.
But
Jesus responds with a great question (He always has a way of doing that doesn’t
He). Jesus asks, “How much do you have”.
Jesus
is not asking us to give more than we have, just to trust Him with what we do
have.
And the
disciples, thanks to a young boy in the crowd, scrounge up 5 loaves of bread
and 2 fish. Not exactly enough to feed thousands of people, is it?
But
here’s the deal. That thought is from our mindset of scarcity.
Jesus
looks at this from a mindset of abundance. This is a view that there will be
enough. This is not fear, this is faith. This is trusting God, with something
that seems like not-enough, with something that seems inadequate, and trusting
Jesus to do something amazing with it.
We
serve a God of abundance. We are called to be people who live in this life of
abundance. I am not exactly talking about material things here, but I do think
we need to look at the luxuries we have in this time and place we live in
compared to previous generations and compared to others around the world today.
Jesus
said “I came to give them life, and life in abundance” (John 10:10).
We live
an abundant life when we trust in Jesus as our Lord, when we view Jesus as
enough in our lives, and as we freely give to others in need, because God will
continue to provide for us as He always has.
And
then those people that ate the fish and bread, “everyone ate and was satisfied”
(Mark 6:42).
May you
be satisfied in the abundance of grace and love your heavenly Father is pouring
out on you today, and may you be a conduit to share this with others in the
name of Jesus.
