SNACKTIME WITH JESUS

life is hard, but God is good.

last night, i heard one of the most encouraging messages on Jesus and the feeding of the 5,000. Louie Giglio shared his insights with us during the final session of the Worship Together Conference. he explained that when Jesus asked his disciples how they thought the people would be fed, He was merely testing them. the disciples wanted to come up with some brilliant plan to save the day, but in the end, they only managed to present a meager snack of bread and fish (which they'd probably bullied off of a poor kid in the crowd). it's what Jesus did with the snack that was the most interesting. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. (Matt. 14:19) Jesus blessed it, broke it and multiplied it. the blessing and breaking happened together before it could be used to nourish the people.

in the same way, Jesus sometimes asks us how we propose to feed the multitudes. we want to say we have these mind-shattering plans, and we come to realize all we have is embarrassingly little. but He graciously accepts whatever "snack" we can give him - even if it's nothing but ourselves. then, He blesses us and breaks us and sends us out there to feed the crowds. the best part is that from the very first moment, Jesus already knows what He is going to do. He doesn't need us for anything yet He involves us anyway.

When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?" He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.
~John 6:5-6~