John 6:13 “So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.”
Five fish and two loaves of bread feed 5000 people with food left over (John 6). An impoverished widow saves her sons from being sold into slavery with a small jar of olive oil (2 Kings 4:1-7). Mustard seed size faith moves a mountain (Matthew 17:20). In God’s economy less is more when we give him the less. The greatest gain comes in giving everything back to him.
Mother Theresa once remarked, “I’m a little pencil in the hand of God, who is sending a love letter to the world.” What an impact that little pencil made! When we offer all we have to God, he uses our gifts to enlarge us. To multiply our effectiveness in a needy world.
I think of my brother, Marty. He works long hours to provide for his family. In the last few years, helping my sister-in-law care for her aging parents has required more from him than he ever thought he could give. But his willingness to let God use his little has produced a profound deepening in who God has called him to be. When our dad died a few years ago, we both were given the opportunity to care for him in his last days. As I watched my brother tenderly attend to Dad’s needs, I asked him, “Where did you learn to do this?” He simply smiled and I knew. Far from restricting him, God’s economy has expanded him….and enabled him to move far past his five fish and two loaves.
When we give the Holy Spirit our meager offerings, he always gives back more. When we bolster our efforts with faith and gratitude, he produces in us and through us an excess beyond anything we could imagine. God wants all of his children to experience the most we can in this life. His economy makes it a reality.
How about you? Are you experiencing God’s economy or do you feel like you’re running on empty? Don’t hold on to things that already belong to him anyway. You will never regret giving him your loaves and fish. You may think it can’t possibly amount to much. But in an economy where two plus five equals thousands, nothing is impossible!