Jesus, We Don’t Have Enough Bread?
(7 minutes)
After a long day of feeding thousands of people from just seven loaves of bread and a few small fish, it was time for Jesus and the disciples to depart to their next destination. Remember, this is the disciple's second time seeing Jesus feed multitudes of people by multiplying food. They climb into the boat and set sail to another region of the country, and here's what happens next:
Now, the disciples had forgotten to take bread with them, except for one loaf of flatbread. And as they were sailing across the lake, Jesus repeatedly warned them, "Be on your guard against the yeast inside of the Pharisees and the yeast inside of Herod!" But the disciples had no clue what Jesus was talking about, so they began to discuss it among themselves, saying, "Is he saying this because we forgot to bring bread?" Knowing what they were thinking, Jesus said to them, "Why all this fussing over forgetting to bring bread? Do you still not see or understand what I say to you? Are your hearts still hard? You have good eyes, yet you still don't see, and you have good ears, yet you still don't hear, neither do you remember. When I multiplied the bread to feed more than five thousand people, how many baskets full of leftovers did you gather afterward?"
"Twelve," they replied.
"And when I multiplied food to feed over four thousand, how many large baskets full of leftovers did you gather afterwards?"
"Seven," they replied.
"Then how is it that you still don't get it?"
(Mark 8:14-21)
"The disciples have seen on two separate occasions Jesus, multiplying bread, feeds twenty-thousand in one crowd and eighteen-thousand in another crowd, and the first thing their mind turns to is what they don't have, or how little they have." (Pastor Tim)
If we're ever wondering what kingdom we're feeding from, we don't have to look any further than our first response to hardships that come into our lives. If you want to know the default operating system that your life depends on moment by moment, just pay attention to the first thoughts you have when a troubling situation arises. That will tell you all you need to know.
The disciples had front-row seats to the multiplying of bread and fish to feed thousands, but when they climbed into the boat, got comfortable, and felt their stomachs rumbling, their minds immediately turned to what they lacked. They're sitting in a boat with Jesus, and they're worried about the shortage of bread. Now, we could shake our heads in complete disapproval over the disciple's behavior, but how many times has our mind defaulted to fear and anxiety after experiencing countless miracles in our own lives?
What does this show us? Well, I don't know about you, but here's what I can see: it doesn't matter how many times you witness Yahweh perform miracles on your behalf, if you don't allow your mind to be renewed you will always default to the kingdom that you have been most intimate with in your life. See, we say things to ourselves like, "If I could only see God come through in this area, it would change everything." Well, this scripture, and plenty of others, tell us a different story. Because the problem isn't really our shortage of powerful encounters with Abba, it's that we don't allow those encounters with His goodness to lead us into metanoia, the changing of our mind. We have powerful encounters in His presence, but we don't allow those encounters to shift our perspective and usher us into a new way of thinking.
Are there still areas where you can only see what you lack and what you don't have? That should be a witness to you that you're still feeding from the kingdom of this world. That is Abba's open invitation to you to come into His presence, experience His goodness, and let Him lead you into the renewing of your mind. By the time Abba's goodness is through with you, your default way of thinking will be that of His Kingdom, and His Kingdom never starts with what we lack and what we don't have.
Beloved One, you have a history with Abba. You have a long line of previous encounters with Him that were powerful. What if you took time today to remember those encounters, but this time ask Abba to use those moments to change your perspective? Abba, we don't want to waste any encounter with Your goodness. Lead us into metanoia!
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Worship: "Million Little Miracles" by Joe L. Barnes
Honor: Give Online to The Wilderness Place
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