Feeding

Now Jesus called his disciples and said, “I feel sorry for the crowd because they have been with me for three days and have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry for fear they won’t have enough strength to travel.” His disciples replied, “Where are we going to get enough food in this wilderness to satisfy such a big crowd?” Jesus said, “How much bread do you have?” They responded, “Seven loaves and a few fish.” He told the crowd to sit on the ground. He took the seven loaves of bread and the fish. After he gave thanks, he broke them into pieces and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. Everyone ate until they were full. The disciples collected seven baskets full of leftovers. Four thousand men ate, plus women and children. After dismissing the crowds, Jesus got into the boat and came to the region of Magadan. (Matthew 15:32-39, CEB)

A lot of the miracles that happen in the Bible are around physical healing or feeding.

There is a lot to say about food and the need humanity has for it.

Food is what brings us together. It is a huge selling point for campus ministry. If a person is fed and not hungry they will listen better.

Food is important. Remember to eat. And help make sure others are fed.

Loving People. Loving God.

devoted

When the crowd heard this, they were deeply troubled. They said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” Peter replied, “Change your hearts and lives. Each of you must be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is for you, your children, and for all who are far away—as many as the Lord our God invites.” With many other words he testified to them and encouraged them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” Those who accepted Peter’s message were baptized. God brought about three thousand people into the community on that day. The believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the community, to their shared meals, and to their prayers. A sense of awe came over everyone. God performed many wonders and signs through the apostles. All the believers were united and shared everything. They would sell pieces of property and possessions and distribute the proceeds to everyone who needed them. Every day, they met together in the temple and ate in their homes. They shared food with gladness and simplicity. They praised God and demonstrated God’s goodness to everyone. The Lord added daily to the community those who were being saved. (Acts 2:37-47, CEB)

The believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the community, to their shared meals, and to their prayers.

The people devoted their lives to what they were taught by the ones who had walked with Jesus.

They devoted their lives to the community.

They devoted their lives to the sharing of food together.

They devoted their lives to prayer.

Gather weekly, eat together, learn together, and pray together.

And God added to their numbers daily.

They were devoted to each other and building their understanding and life together and God brought in new people.

Live your life out loud so others see it and wonder how to have what you have.

Live your life out loud so the love of God spills into the world.

Loving People. Loving God.

Best laid plans

First of all, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because the news about your faithfulness is being spread throughout the whole world. I serve God in my spirit by preaching the good news about God’s Son, and God is my witness that I continually mention you in all my prayers. I’m always asking that somehow, by God’s will, I might succeed in visiting you at last. I really want to see you to pass along some spiritual gift to you so that you can be strengthened. What I mean is that we can mutually encourage each other while I am with you. We can be encouraged by the faithfulness we find in each other, both your faithfulness and mine. I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that I planned to visit you many times, although I have been prevented from coming until now. I want to harvest some fruit among you, just as I have done among the other Gentiles. I have a responsibility both to Greeks and to those who don’t speak Greek, both to the wise and to the foolish. That’s why I’m ready to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome. (Romans 1:8-15, CEB)

Best laid plans…

Sometimes we think we know what we need to do and how it needs to get done.

Paul here tells the Romans he had wanted to come and be with them many times, but it never seemed to work out.

What do you want to do that has never actually worked out.

Maybe there is a reason for that.

Sometimes our plans and God’s plans don’t align, and we need to succumb to the understanding that God’s plans are the best way to go.

If things don’t work out, maybe there is something better about to happen.

Loving People. Loving God.

How many?

When Jesus heard about John, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself. When the crowds learned this, they followed him on foot from the cities. When Jesus arrived and saw a large crowd, he had compassion for them and healed those who were sick. That evening his disciples came and said to him, “This is an isolated place and it’s getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” But Jesus said to them, “There’s no need to send them away. You give them something to eat.” They replied, “We have nothing here except five loaves of bread and two fish.” He said, “Bring them here to me.” He ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves of bread and the two fish, looked up to heaven, blessed them and broke the loaves apart and gave them to his disciples. Then the disciples gave them to the crowds. Everyone ate until they were full, and they filled twelve baskets with the leftovers. About five thousand men plus women and children had eaten. (Matthew 14:13-21, CEB)

The feeding of the five thousand is the name most of us know this story by, but is that the right number?

At the end, it says, “About five thousand men plus women and children had eaten.”

So five thousand men, plus women and children. If we say seventy-five percent of the men were married that is another three thousand seven hundred and fifty women, assuming they only had one wife. and if fifty percent of them had two children, that is another three thousand seven hundred and fifty. That is a total of twelve thousand five hundred people. From 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish.

Feeding five thousand people from 5 loaves and 2 fish is a huge miracle. Something people have obviously talked about for centuries, but when you sit for a moment and actually ponder the total number of people that were present and fed, it becomes even greater. And the twelve thousand five hundred isn’t all either. Were the disciples and Jesus included in the number of men? If not that is at least 13 more, plus the people that were with them.

We get hung up on things and don’t really see the immensity of what God is doing.

Don’t lose the miracle for the details, but realize how big God is and how much God will do for you.

Loving People. Loving God.

Ask, seek, knock

“Ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Whoever seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door is opened. Who among you will give your children a stone when they ask for bread? Or give them a snake when they ask for fish? If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him. (Matthew 7:7-11, CEB)

Have you ever asked for something and not gotten it?

Have you ever looked for something and not found it?

Have you ever knocked on a door and it wasn’t opened?

I looked for a contact once in a cabin we were visiting. My daughter lost her contact and we pay about $25 a contact for special ordered lenses for her and this is the second one she lost in about 3 weeks. she was devastated and I wanted to help and she thought she dropped it in the sink. So I was working on getting the stopper out of the sink and it wasn’t working and in the process of looking for this contact and taking the plumbing apart on the sin, I actually removed the drain pipe from the bathroom sink. Remember we do not live here and we were merely visiting. I had no understanding or putty to put this sink back together. So I had to tell the person who takes care of the place that I took apart the sink in the bathroom. I actually found the contact all dried up on the floor in the hall a few days later.

Sometimes we ask and we don’t get, and sometimes we look and we don’t find and knocking doesn’t get it opened. And that doesn’t mean our faith isn’t enough or God doesn’t love us.

This verse is used for a cosmic vending machine mentality of God and that God will give us everything we ask for, seek, and want. And that is not what it means.

God gives us what we need. If we need it and ask it will come. If we need it and seek it will come. If we knock and need to get in it will open.

God is not a vending machine for our desires.

Know you are loved and when it seems like God is absent, God is not. God loves you.

Loving People. Loving God.

What did it say?

But it’s not as though God’s word has failed. Not all who are descended from Israel are part of Israel. Not all of Abraham’s children are called Abraham’s descendants, but instead your descendants will be named through Isaac. That means it isn’t the natural children who are God’s children, but it is the children from the promise who are counted as descendants. The words in the promise were: A year from now I will return, and Sarah will have a son. Not only that, but also Rebecca conceived children with one man, our ancestor Isaac. When they hadn’t been born yet and when they hadn’t yet done anything good or bad, it was shown that God’s purpose would continue because it was based on his choice. It wasn’t because of what was done but because of God’s call. This was said to her: The older child will be a slave to the younger one. As it is written, I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau. (Romans 9:6-13, CEB)

What did the word say?

And what did it mean?

You see when we read things we get the meaning based on our upbringing and the community that surrounds us. We use the influences on our lives to help us understand the meaning of what we read. And someone who had a different set of influences would possibly get a different meaning and that meaning could be different than the one of the person who wrote the thing in the first place. So which meaning is correct?

You could say the person who wrote the text, and that would be correct, and yet others who read it who have influences the original author never had get a new/different meaning and that doesn’t mean it is wrong, not what was intended, but not wrong.

So how are people of the promise not of the promise, or not included? Who makes that choice? The only answer that matters is not us.

We need to say everyone is in and hope that we are a part of that when it all shakes out in the end. And I believe the promises that all means all and God is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

Loving People. Loving God.

content

I was very glad in the Lord because now at last you have shown concern for me again. (Of course you were always concerned but had no way to show it.) I’m not saying this because I need anything, for I have learned how to be content in any circumstance. I know the experience of being in need and of having more than enough; I have learned the secret to being content in any and every circumstance, whether full or hungry or whether having plenty or being poor. I can endure all these things through the power of the one who gives me strength. Still, you have done well to share my distress. You Philippians know from the time of my first mission work in Macedonia how no church shared in supporting my ministry except you. (Philippians 4:10-15, CEB)

Are we content?

Or do we need something new?

As I write this devotion, I am about to pay off a vehicle loan and I am now looking again at getting a Can Am Spyder. Pay off one thing and get another loan for something else. Why? Why can I not be content to have no payments for at least a moment?

We always seem to want something we do not have. Something bigger, or better.

Paul in this letter to the Philippians is telling them that he has discovered the secret to happiness. To be content. Whether he wants something or has everything he needs. He can make it because God’s love will always see him through.

So be content and don’t go looking for something else.

Loving People. Loving God.

P.S. To be clear I have looked off and on for the Spyder and have even included pictures of ones in devotions in the past, that isn’t anything new and will eventually happen, I was just struck by how I seem uncontent with having extra money to save…

small actions = big things

He continued, “What’s a good image for God’s kingdom? What parable can I use to explain it? Consider a mustard seed. When scattered on the ground, it’s the smallest of all the seeds on the earth; but when it’s planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all vegetable plants. It produces such large branches that the birds in the sky are able to nest in its shade.” With many such parables he continued to give them the word, as much as they were able to hear. He spoke to them only in parables, then explained everything to his disciples when he was alone with them. (Mark 4:30-34, CEB)

The smallest of seeds becomes the largest of plants.

Meaning the smallest action can cause the biggest turnaround.

When you give even a cup of water to one of these you are doing the work of God.

The small things we do every day help to spread love into the fabric of society and bring about the kingdom of God. So never think you can’t make a difference.

A smile.

A kind word.

Holding open a door.

Any small thing can and will make a difference.

Loving People. Loving God.

Strength

Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and his powerful strength. Put on God’s armor so that you can make a stand against the tricks of the devil. We aren’t fighting against human enemies but against rulers, authorities, forces of cosmic darkness, and spiritual powers of evil in the heavens. Therefore, pick up the full armor of God so that you can stand your ground on the evil day and after you have done everything possible to still stand. So stand with the belt of truth around your waist, justice as your breastplate, and put shoes on your feet so that you are ready to spread the good news of peace. Above all, carry the shield of faith so that you can extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is God’s word. Offer prayers and petitions in the Spirit all the time. Stay alert by hanging in there and praying for all believers. (Ephesians 6:10-18, CEB)

Where does your strength come from?

God is always with us and surrounds us with a hedge of protection.

We are girded on all sides by grace, mercy, and love. Surrounded by the love of God.

Now this doesn’t mean there will not be conflict or bad things that happen, but in those things, we will never be alone or without God.

Know where your strength comes from. And live in the grace you have been given.

Loving People. Loving God.

what motivates you?

Are any of you wise and understanding? Show that your actions are good with a humble lifestyle that comes from wisdom. However, if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, then stop bragging and living in ways that deny the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above. Instead, it is from the earth, natural and demonic. Wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there is disorder and everything that is evil. What of the wisdom from above? First, it is pure, and then peaceful, gentle, obedient, filled with mercy and good actions, fair, and genuine. Those who make peace sow the seeds of justice by their peaceful acts. (James 3:13-18, CEB)

Are you wise and understanding?

I would always say no to this. I do not consider myself to be wise. I know some things and some things I don’t. And I try to be understanding but I know I fail more often than not.

But I do try to be humble in my interactions with others. When I am wrong I seek to offer grace and learn. I try to be humble in everything I do, showing forth love, grace, and mercy as God loves, graces and shows me mercy.

I try not to do things for my own gain, but to always show forth God’s love.

Are we motivated for our own gain? For what we get? If so the author of James tells us to stop bragging and living a life that denies the truth. Thr truth is we are where we are because of God’s grace, mercy, and love. We need to be motivated by that.

Motivated to love the world because we were loved first. Not for what we get.

Do not be motivated by selfish ambition or for a prize you may or may not get.

Love because that is the best thing to do.

Loving People. Loving God.