I wrote most of this a few years ago.
I’m thinking about the gap between what we know and what we really believe.
We know outcomes don’t depend on the size of our efforts. We know God asks us to do what we can, where we are, with what we have and then trust Him for the results.
We know, but do we believe? Because, in the end, what we believe is reflected in our actions.
We know Jesus fed 5,000 with a few loaves and a couple of fish, with plenty of leftovers. What do we believe? What’s the lesson?
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When the disciples were concerned about the hungry crowd, they wanted Jesus to send them into town.
Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
The implication – they had what they needed. Only when they complained about limited resources did Jesus ask them to bring the fish and bread to Him.
Their ability to meet the need was limited by faith, not food.
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More than thirty million people live in modern-day slavery. You and I can’t really comprehend the overwhelming magnitude of that horror.
Twenty-five kids live at Project Rescue’s HOME OF HOPE in New Delhi. Twenty-five out of thirty million – as a percentage, that’s a lot of zeroes in front of the decimal point.
But—God doesn’t work in percentages. Can you imagine how much those twenty-five kids matter to God?
And we hear Jesus saying something like, “Don’t send them away. You give them a place to stay.”
We could reply, as the disciples did, by listing the inadequate resources at our disposal and all the reasons we can’t do it. And perhaps He’d shake His head sadly and say, “Bring what you have.”
He’d give thanks, and ask us to distribute the stuff, and there’d be more than enough. And we’d be left wondering how He did it.
There’s a gap between what we know and what we believe.
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Or we could say, “We don’t really know how to do that, but we’ll do what we can, where we are, with what we have and then trust You for the results.”