Five Lessons... Part 3

Quick Recap: Jesus had gone away with His disciples and the multitudes had followed. It was dinner time and Jesus took charge to feed all the people. In the first post I noted that the first lesson we can learn from this miracle of Jesus is ATTITUDE. In order to be all you can be for Jesus you have to take on the right attitude. With God ALL things are possible. God has put us where we are for a purpose and He has placed large tasks in our lives. We have to take on the correct attitude in order for God to use us and conquer these big tasks. In my last post I noted that the second lesson we can learn is GIVING IT ALL. God has incredible things in store for our lives and He wants to use us beyond our comprehension, but in order to do so we have to give everything to him. Just as the young boy gave all of his lunch for Jesus to use, we have to give Jesus all of ourselves.

Sweet... Let's jump into the scripture. This time we are going to look at Luke's "version" of the miracle~ Luke 9:14-17

(About five thousand men were there.)But he said to his disciples, "Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each." The disciples did so, and everybody sat down. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to set before the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.

At least 5,000 men were in attendance at this gathering, that is not counting women or children. Wow, now that' s a whole lot of people! Like I noted in a previous post, Bible Scholars believe that was an estimated 10,000 people there all together. For the sake of wanting a number to help get my thoughts across we are going to go with 10,000. It really doesn't matter, but it will help with a little visual!

Now as you recall from previous posts that Jesus had crossed the sea of Galilee with His disciples and they had gone up and sat on a mountainside. Keep that in the back of your head for a moment! Anyway, they had gone up and Jesus decided it was time to eat and the disciples had no clue what Jesus was about to do. A young boy had given his lunch to Jesus and the disciples did not know what He could do with such a small lunch. Jesus told them to sit the people down in groups of about 50, so they did. But I think that they still did not understand what they were fixing to experience... Little did they know that their job was about to begin!

Stop. Soak it in. Think through the story up until this point. Got it? Here we go...

LESSON 3~ Keep On Keeping On.

There are 3 different things I want you to see from this.

#1- Jesus had 10,000ish people sit down in groups of 50. Now by my calculations that means there were roughly 200 groups! Now pull that fact out that I asked you to store a moment ago. They were on a mountainside. That means that they were probably on or around the mountain and Jesus and His disciples were most likely at the top. Jesus blessed the food and began to give it to the disciples to hand out to the 200 different groups of people. 200 groups divided by 12 disciples= 16 trips per disciple with a few trips left over. 16 times the disciples had to get a basket go out and distribute it and come back get another and to it all again. I can only imagine that they were probably playing paper-rock-scissors to see who had to go to group #200 who was the furthest away. WOW... What a job they had. A task that probably seemed like it would never end. 16 trips up and down the mountain just to do what Jesus had commanded them to do. In their minds the still did not understand what was going on. They saw an impossible task before them of feeding that many people. They saw Jesus bless the little lunch to create enough resources to do what He called them to do, but yet they still had to do the work. They kept on keeping on, doing the work that Jesus called them to do. I'm sure that by the 10th or 11th trip back up the mountain they were done and ready to stop, but they didn't. The kept on until everyone had food and they were satisfied. Which leads me to point number 2.

#2- The disciples did not quit. The kept on until the task that they were called to do was finished. The endured through it all and finished. When everyone had eaten and they were satisfied the disciples went through and picked up 12 baskets of left overs. Coincidence? I think not. 12 men who had given it all, they left everything, they had nothing. 12 baskets left over- I think this was their reward. Since they had given up everything and had nothing I'm sure that a basket of food was a huge blessing. They kept on keeping on doing what they were called to do and I believe that they were blessed and rewarded for it. God has called each one of us for a specific purpose. He has called us to keep on keeping on.
Maybe you are in the middle of a situation and you don't know when or how you are going to get out... Keep on keeping on.
Maybe God has called you to do something and you are frustrated and ready to give up... Keep on keeping on.
Maybe the task before you is bigger than you and you're just not sure if you can do it or not... Keep on keeping on.
Maybe God has told you to be patient and just wait... Keep on keeping on.
I promise that if you keep on keeping on God will give you the strength and resources that you need to keep going. I also promise that after you have come through the storm, accomplished the task, climbed your mountain, or whatever it is, a blessing/reward lies on the other side for you. Just as the disciples gained their baskets, God has something incredible for you, it might not be an earthly reward, but I promise there's something for you. This brings me to my favorite insight from this whole passage.

#3- In order for the disciples to keep on keeping on feeding the people they had to continually come back to Jesus and get another basket. They would go to Jesus, get a basket, feed the people, come back and get a refill. Then they would go out and feed some more, and then they had to go back to Jesus, over and over again. In order for us to keep on keeping on we have to daily go back to Jesus and get our "baskets" refilled before we can out and serve and feed His people. Daily we have to come to Him in prayer and Bible study in order to be refilled for each new day. You can't go out to serve and feed God's people when you have nothing to serve and you yourself have not been fed to have the energy to keep on keeping on.

It looks impossible sometimes, but with the right attitude, and when you give all you have, and KEEP ON KEEPING ON no matter what, God will use you and bless you far beyond your imagination.

I leave you with these verse from 2 Corinthians 4:16-18:

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Pressing On.