Jesus summed up the law with one seemingly simple idea: love God, love others. John stated in his first book that if one claims to love God and yet does not love his brother, he does not even know God. All my life I have known the importance of loving Christians and non-Christians alike with a self sacrificial, genuine spirit. While I have a burning passion to serve and do whatever humanly possible for the kingdom, it has often caught up with me, and I have often found myself in a battle between giving and receiving. The two should be on the same team rather than the opposite, and serving Christ through serving others should bring me joy and satisfaction. Often it does. But it can also be very draining to me, and that is something I have not understood. My life is no exception; plenty of Christians who have the kind of joyful, selfless, servant hearts that I desire have experienced more stressful circumstances than I will ever know. A passage in Luke that I recently read shed a bit of light on the subject. Jesus and His disciples were with the crowds of people, and had been for some time. The disciples told Jesus of the crowd's hunger, expecting Him to magically produce enough food for everyone. While He did do that in one sense, He went about it in a way that the disciples did not expect. Rather than the "Sure, pals!" that they were eager to hear, Jesus said bluntly, "You feed them."
Often I have heard Jesus saying the same thing to me. Of course He could be the perfect friend, counselor, listener, and provider for those around me. But He's not about to let me off the hook. He says, "You feed them, Jenna." Can I? Not in the least. But look again at the story.
The disciples show Jesus that all they have is a few morsels of food; really only enough to feed themselves, if that. And Jesus says, perfect, and performs a miracle, feeding the 5,000 and wow-ing the disciples by taking their little, and turning it into plenty. Jesus can do that for me as well; take what He has given me and multiply it for others to be nurtured by. All I have to do is hold up the small amount of spiritual food that I have, acknowledge that only Jesus can provide, and let Him be the source of life to others. Although Jesus told the twelve that they should feed the multitude, in the end it was really Him who did it. Similarly, Jesus may use me to be a blessing to others, but in the end He is the one who provides and ultimately, receives all the glory. If I try to feed 5,000 people with my meager rations I will run dry. Only Jesus can be the inexhaustible, never tiring, ever flowing fountain in my heart. It is then that He will spill out of me onto others and create life everywhere I go.
Ezekiel 47
1Then he brought me back to the door of the temple, and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east...
9And wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish. For this water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes...
12And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.
Psalm 36
9For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light
Psalm 116
12What shall I render to the LORD for all His benefits to me? 13I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the LORD
Please more, Daddy :]
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