It’s not often I disagree with a great and learned preacher like Chuck Swindoll, but in this instance I have to say I see it differently. It’s a minor point, but a difference nonetheless. This week I heard him preaching on the radio about the feeding of the 5,000 from John 6. He was looking at the section with Andrew and the little boy with the five loaves and two fish.As he saw their interchange it went something like this:Andrew, “Hey, son, we need your loaves and fish to feed all these people.”Boy, “I don’t want to give them to you. If you take them, what will I have?”Andrew, “But we need them. Won’t you share?”

Boy, “Okay, if I have to.”

Chuck sees a reluctant boy who was ultimately convinced (coerced) into giving up his snack.

I see it a little differently. What I see is a little boy, overhearing the discussion about feeding all the people, who is eager to help. He comes up to Andrew, pulls on his sleeve and says, “Hey, mister. I have some loaves and fish here if that will help.”

Andrew, “Thanks son but no. There are over 5,000 men not counting women and children. Five little barley loaves and two sardines just won’t cut it.”

Boy, “Are you sure? I would really like to help. Please, will you at least ask Jesus?”

Andrew (just to get the kid to quit bugging him), “Oh, all right, if you insist. But if Jesus doesn’t want them remember I told you so.”

We pick up the story in verse 8, “One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?”

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I feel like that little boy. I don’t have much to offer the Lord but would like to be a part of what He is doing. I look at myself and wonder what good I can really do with the measly little “five loaves and two fish” time, gifts and abilities I have.

I have come to realize, though, as Andrew and the little boy found out, it’s not what I have to offer but Who I offer it to that matters.

You know the rest of the story. Jesus took that little boy’s lunchable, prayed over it, fed an estimated 10,000+ people and had 12 baskets of food left over!

The section of the Creed we are looking at this week brings us back to a statement we briefly studied at last time. Speaking of Jesus it says “and He will come to judge the living and the dead.”

When we stand before Him at the Bema seat to receive rewards for the works we’ve done since salvation (see I Cor. 3:10-15 and last weeks Blog for more detail), one of the criteria He will use is our willingness to give Him what we are and have for His use.

We are to be like the little boy who said in essence, “It may not be much but it’s all I have, and Lord, you can have it all for your use.” The key is - little is much when God is in it.

The principle we draw from this is whatever I am or do in life, I do it the best I can for Him. For His glory, for His honor, for the advancement of His kingdom.

If I am a mother, father, claims adjuster, state employee, school teacher, student, body shop owner, fitness instructor, bookkeeper, bakery manager, production worker, nurse, homeless person helper, doctor, or chaplain then I am to give that to God, allow Him to work in and through me so I will be the best mother, father, claims adjuster, state employee, school teacher, student, body shop owner, fitness instructor, bookkeeper, bakery manager, production worker, nurse, homeless person helper, doctor, or chaplain I can be.

When I get to heaven the Lord won’t ask me how I did as a cabinet maker since I’ve never made cabinets. He will evaluate me however on whether I was the best salesman I could be for Him. Things like was I honest, did I take time to witness or encourage other believers when the opportunities arose, and did I give my boss a days work for a days wage?

What an encouragement to know the Lord only expects from us what we are. Sure He wants us to grow and develop. But He simply asks us to give Him all we are and have, to be the best we can be for Him, to be completely yielded to Him, and to let Him work through us. He will then take that and do mighty things with it.

May you give Him all your “loaves and fish” and then watch and see what amazing things He will do with them.
Mark