Hello again!
This is what God gave me today in His word:
Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.” And the disciples said to him, “Where are we to get enough bread in such a desolate place to feed so great a crowd?” And Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” And directing the crowd to sit down on the ground, he took the seven loaves and the fish, and having given thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. (Matthew 15:32-36)
The disciples didn’t have much. Much less enough to feed the “great crowds” [vs. 30] of people. Seven loaves of bread, and a few fish, don’t go too far among a large crowd. Yet, what does Jesus do? He starts by asking the disciples how much they have, then, when they tell Him how little they have, that’s when He uses what they have to feed everyone. He first wanted to make sure His disciples recognized their own inability to provide, before then providing what everyone needed through them.
The disciples gave what they received. We too should be giving what we have received: grace. Rather unlike the disciples, we didn’t even have a little “grace” before; we weren’t even a little “forgiven”. But now Jesus, through His death and Resurrection, has given us abundant grace. Now, none but Christ can give saving grace, but we can give grace to those who hurt us (physically or mentally). We can give grace in the form of forgiveness, patience, love, and in many other ways. Jesus fed the crowds unlimitedly, and has given us grace unlimitedly. Its our job to distribute the grace which we’ve been given in the same manner.
You are Loved!
Joshua Cleveland
