Scripture Nugget 6.10.2017
Scripture Read Luke 9-10
Nugget Luke 9:13-17
“But he said to them, ‘You give them something to eat.’ They said, ‘We have no more than five loaves and two fish – unless we are to go and buy food for all these people.’ For there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, ‘Make them sit down in groups of about fifty each.’ They did so and made them all sit down. And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. And all ate and were filled. What was left over was gathered up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.”
Devotional Thought: Those of you who know me and about my vocational history, know that I have a lot of experience with organizing logistics to ensure an event or an operational plan is carried out to its fullest. While I don’t like to begin a project without assurance of proper resources this passage points out that in mission and ministry sometimes we just need to get started and operate with faith. Being with Jesus, we can be assured we are operating in His will; operating in His will He will provide. The hungry (physical, spiritual, emotional, psychological) will always be around us. If we send them away, while we gather supplies, we miss an opportunity. If we continue to gather, even after we have more than enough to get started, we’ve lost focus. Notice, all were fed and there was a basket of pieces for each apostle to continue the mission. Baskets of abounding grace to be shared with others ….. am I/are you looking for those opportunities? Or do we send “them” away to find their own food? Jesus encourages us, “You give them something to eat.”