All Ate and Were Satisfied
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Matthew 14:19,20 NIV
Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.
As I opened the email containing this passage, I almost began to cry. Many, many mornings I find that scripture arrives in my email as if it were intended just for me and for my life. (And I guess all of it is that personal if we will be open to the message!) I have been stepping out in faith lately and taking some “chances” that an otherwise intelligent person might not take (I’m talking about careers and business ventures, here, not racing cars or having wild weekends in Las Vegas!) Every step I take on this road, I have found Christ, not just bidding me to take the next step, but showing me that the next step will yield so much more than I can even envision.
I long to minister to God’s world. My heart’s desire is to offer hope and encouragement, love and peace to a world so full of hurt and anger, fear and violence. I pray that God will use me to be a vessel of His love to this world He placed me in. Sometimes – often – being used in that way is scary – because I wonder how I could possibly be a vehicle for good and peace in this world, when I am such a sinner and so bent on yielding not to God’s will but to my own. God has revealed though, that it is through sinners and their admission of sinfulness that others see and hear the power of Jesus Christ. In spite of my sin, in spite of all the ways I fall short of perfection, God still uses me – through my writing, through my art, through my life.
And He uses each of us. He has made each of us to fulfill a specific purpose in our lives—with our lives. I wonder if we sometimes feel insignificant and incapable because of the all-surpassing gift of Jesus Christ. How could gift compare to the crucifixion? How could any promise be greater than the one we received on that first Easter morning? Of course, none can! So we must do our best to live out our own purpose, in gratitude, with thanksgiving, and even with joy. Not a pie-in-the-sky, unrealistic attitude – but one of deep and abiding joy, because we know, without question, what awaits us.
Like the bread and fishes – Jesus offers us more than this current life – He offers us abundance and even perfection in heaven. Trust and obey becomes an easier command from that perspective, doesn’t it. We will be given all we need in this life, and so much more than we can imagine in the next! We will receive basketfuls of love and peace and true joy when we arrive in heaven. That’s worth living for. That’s cause for rejoicing. That’s cause for hope and for obedience. And even after we have received all we need and more, there will still be crumbs left!
My prayer today is that you step out in faith, trusting that God has already provided you everything you need to fulfill the purpose for your life. And that the gift of Jesus Christ will sustain you on your journey.
Mary
