By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. "This is a remote place," they said, "and it's already very late. Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat."
But he answered, "You give them something to eat." They said to him, "That would take eight months of a man's wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?"
"How many loaves do you have?" he asked. "Go and see." When they found out, they said, "Five—and two fish."
Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 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 his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.
You feed them “That’s your problem”My brother shared the story of a situation his pastor encountered on a mission trip in Europe. The team was doing building construction and needed to have some scaffolding moved from one side of the building to the other to continue their work. When the pastor approached the construction manager with the problem he was cryptically informed, “Your problem.”
I can just imagine the shock wave that must have reverberated through the disciples when Jesus looked at them and said, “You feed them.” Jesus has just commanded the disciples to do the impossible. To feed that many people was not a stretch it was madness, delusional. In their own strength, through their own methods, it was an impossible situation.
But the disciples are with Jesus, and Jesus never commands us to do something he can’t do. I constantly see parents challenge their children to do the impossible just so they can help the child with what they have asked them to do. Jesus does the same thing.
Here is an impossible task in life, have faith to say yes to it and believe I can do it. Notice Jesus did not take over he used what the disciples could bring. Certainly 5 loaves and 2 fish were mustard seed size offerings, but Jesus produced 12 baskets of leftovers after everyone ate their fill from them. He can do the same thing in our lives if we will just accept the challenge and obey.
Father, help to say yes to the impossible believing you will work in me to accomplish what I cannot. May you receive the glory and honor for all you do. - Dan Jones
Boundaries and Grace
I am on a life-long quest to learn how to set boundaries in my life. Yesterday, I finished a 30-day leave of absence from leading my church through an extended building program. I desperately needed this leave, in part, because of poorly enforced boundaries. My spiritual, emotional, and leadership energy had simply drained from me like oil leaking from a tired old car, leaving the engine on the verge of seizing up.
I return to my responsibilities today with a newfound sense of God’s calling and a renewed determination for strong boundaries designed to ensure that I spend the necessary time in spiritual development and physical activity to maintain the vigor needed to effectively pastor.
But I face a danger unique to any season of life, when one learns to put into place critical practices that have been largely absent before. Over-reaction. It will be easy to forget that life disciplines are a means and not an end. Firm boundaries are critical, not for their own sake, but in order to better serve others. If I want to reflect Jesus, developing strong boundaries will always equip me to better express an outwardly focused life. This will demand grace.
Grace means undeserved favor toward others. While I will learn the skills of saying “no” to some and “later” to many, in order to create boundaries, I must never forget that there will be times, when it is an appropriate expression of grace, to allow the needs of others to break the wall around time set aside for spiritual and emotional renewal. This is grace.
That’s what Jesus did in this story. He not only canceled his “staff retreat” (see Dan’s Thursday reflection) to serve the crowd. But now, he goes the extra mile and feeds them. Undeserved favor. If I’m not careful, I’ll reflect more the frustrated disciples. “We gave up our day alone with you Jesus, now let them feed themselves!”
Gracious God, forgive me for not setting enough firm boundaries in my life. In the process of putting them into place, help me to remain gracious. Give me the wisdom to know when to allow the needs of people to tear down these important walls. And in those times, grant that I would be as grace-filled as Jesus. - Mike Leamon
No comments:
Post a Comment