Reading the Gospels really can change your life. About ten years ago, my life took a very different, significant, shape because of reading the Gospels. It used to be that I would work 40-50 hrs. a week painting houses and once a week also leading worship at a home fellowship. The majority of my time was spent working to “get ahead” and…complaining about the trajectory of my country and the world (though, I have to admit I rarely thought about “the world”). One day, I sensed the Spirit of the Lord challenging me to stop complaining and to do something to improve the situation of the country. How could I spend all my energy complaining about the decisions made by my fellow countrymen while doing virtually nothing but seeking my own welfare in my day to day? That could hardly be what a Christian was meant to do. But I did have needs and I did have fears. Who would take care of me and my family? We struggle to pay the bills and to still have anything left over, if I slow down, we might lose our house to foreclosure. What if one of us gets sick or our car breaks down? What if we could never afford to go on vacation? What if we have children? What if I get injured and can’t work? These are legitimate fears. But as I felt the Lord urging me to take seriously the growing sense of calling I was experiencing, I also came across this passage from Luke 9: As the day worn on, the Twelve came to Jesus. “Send the crowds away,” they said, “so that they can go into the villages and countryside nearby, find somewhere to stay, and get something to eat. We’re in quite a lonely spot here.” “You give them something to eat.” He replied. “All we’ve got here,” they said, “is five loaves and a couple of fish—unless you mean we should go ourselves and buy food for all these people?” (There were about five thousand men.) “Get them to sit down,” Jesus said to them, “in groups of around fifty each.” They did so, and everyone sat down. Then Jesus took the fives loaves and the two fish. He looked up to heaven, blessed the food, divided it, and gave it to the disciples to pass around the crowd. Everyone ate and was satisfied. They took up twelve baskets of broken bits left over. Luke 9:12-17 (The Kingdom New Testament) Being a Christian does not mean that I am a superman, able to conquer the tallest challenge or the biggest enemy. Being a Christian means that I trust in the authority, power, and living presence of Jesus in my everyday life. These words from Jesus have been a constant note of encouragement and challenge over the past ten years as I have tried to take seriously the command “You give them something to eat.” There is nothing in my pockets and sometimes no gas left in the tank, (sometimes literally, sometimes metaphorically), but Jesus is both faithful and relentless. He is still calling His disciples to “give them something to eat”. This is how the world gets fed and rescued to God’s glory.
