"BRING THEM TO ME"

When Andrew came to Jesus he said they had found only five loaves and two fish.  Jesus answered, “Bring them to me.”  We look to the Lord and say, “We have only a few people and a little money for the task!”  Our duty is, according to Jesus’ words, to bring what we have to him!

Our duty is to bring what we do have to Jesus and dedicate it to him.  Whatever we have, no matter how small, we bring it.  “Lord, whatever I have is yours for your use.  My money, my knowledge, my gifts, my time, my speech; I dedicate them all to you.”  Have we brought what we have to Jesus and dedicated it to him?  We are tempted to keep back some of our resources as a safety net to protect ourselves from emergencies.  We are tempted to use our resources to make something for our own comfort and use.  But what might he do in his great power if we brought everything we have to him?

Our duty is also to bring what we have in faith.  “Andrew, do you believe Jesus can feed more than 5,000 people with your loaves and fish?  In your hands they are nothing!  But in his hands they are a feast for a multitude!”  The man of faith believes God has given him enough for the task to which he has been called.  The man of faith believes and dedicates all he has to God and then he sees God multiply it.  It is not vast sums of money that do the job.  It is not organizations or management techniques or modern technology that accomplish it.  It is not marketing that does it.  What does the job?  It is the power of Christ in dedicated and faithful believers!

Our duty is to bring what we have to Christ in active service.  Should we bring all we have to Jesus and lay it at his feet and then sit down to wait and see what he does with it?  Jesus commanded the disciples to go and distribute the food to the crowd.  Once we have given our all to Christ he will give it back to us so we can use it to distribute to the multitudes around us.  All we are called to do is to use the gifts and resources with which Christ has gifted us to do something to advance his kingdom!  We don’t know how much food he will turn it into, we just start passing it!

The power of Christ makes what little we have to offer more than enough!  Each of the disciples recovered a full basket of leftovers.  There was more than enough and the leftovers were more than that with which they began!  We never need to fear that our resources will be exhausted when we spend them on the spiritually starving multitude.  Jesus will multiply our small amount and we will never run short of provisions.  In this way we will be able to care for the crowds!