That Nothing Be Lost

Wednesday, May 17, 2023

Good morning, Lord

Verse of the Day: He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.—John 14:21

Memory of the Month: John 10:27-28

27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

Today's reading: 1 CHRONICLES 1-3 JOHN 5:25-47

That Nothing Be Lost

Five thousand men with families followed Jesus and the disciples up a hill by the Sea of Galilee and witnessed a miracle. It is said to be one of the greatest miracles but any real miracle is still a miracle. It could be a miracle that a child had five loaves and two fish in all those people and had managed to hang on to it as long as he had. One child in all those people had food? Only one child had food?

They were mostly poor people with no promise of anything from Jesus except His words in power and hope for more signs and wonders. That is what they got. Signs of the King in their presence and the wonders of the power of God in their midst and it started with a question, "Where do we buy bread so that these may eat?"

Jesus knew He would not buy bread. The disciples would only think of how much money it would take to feed them all. (That is odd-the people who were with Jesus constantly were not thinking miracle but 5000 men with families were?) Jesus knew the boy had the bread and the fish-he was simply waiting for someone to bring it up. He very naturally sat everyone and divided the food like it was done all the time? Yes, but it was only natural to His divine thinking.

Jesus was free of worry. He knew His father would provide for all who came after Jesus. He knew that God would not only provide the need but that there would be baskets left over-more than enough.

How much do we worry? How much do we believe that God will provide all our needs in Christ Jesus?

Philippians 4:19 ►And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

It is time we told the truth. Some of us talk a good game but deep inside, we worry if we will have enough-we always have-and God always provides the need with extra to spare.

Jesus said,“Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost."

Think about the times when there was not enough money to pay it all...think about it. There have been those times in our lives when the ends would not even meet-but here we are, somehow-because there was always hope leftover. God's love is always in abundance and He is our God of peace. They can come get all we have and leave us standing on the curb...but the baskets-full of grace and mercy for our souls is always there. His peace never leaves us.

This is all easy to say, again, I know. We, clerics, can roll out the platitudes when we need to-but-if you argue with what I say here today, take it to God and argue with Him. He has the real truth, I am only a servant of that truth-as you are.

When the world piles it on, we are great at complaining. When God piles it on, do we even see it?

The disciples needed money for the impossible(feeding 5000 people in the middle of nowhere)-Jesus needed nothing-He could have turned the rocks into buscuits-but He used what was physically available to show that God's power never falls short-in fact, it can be wasted if we don't gather up what's left when the miracle is over.

We are still here-miracle-still being held down by gravity-miracle-still have our names in God's book-divine truth.

Gather it up-don't let this truth around you, in your world, go to waste-none of it. Someone else needs it. Share it-give it away-there's always more where that came from.

...because He loves us...

Father in Heaven,

Forgive me my complaining and my waste of Your graces and mercies. Teach me how to keep my heart on Your purposes.

Merciful and sweet God of Peace,

In the name of Jesus,

Amen