Two Lessons on Community

John 6:9, "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?"

The feeding of the five thousand in John 6 is rich with lessons on community. One of the side lessons in John's version of the story is that the disciples did have about 10 months in wages in their treasury, and that they considered buying the multitudes the food acknowledging that spending all their savings would only give everyone a little. And so at the end of that discourse Andrew points out the young boy with the meager lunch.

It is here that we have a wonderful lesson on community as most Christians know the results. We all know Jesus took that little lunch, blessed it, and fed 5000 men plus women and children to completely full. So full that there were 12 baskets of bread left over. The lesson on community is that we can see God has placed everything we need within reach. There is rarely, if ever, a need to go into a proverbial town to meet a need right here.That is because with His blessing there is already more than enough.

Equal to the lesson that community contains all that we need,  there is also the importance of the individual being willing to be a part of that blessing. Can you image if the boy would have said, "heck no, you're not taking my lunch. That is all I have." Or what if he would have said, "My sack lunch is not going to make a dent in the need, so forget it." On the contrary Jesus says, I need your lunch, and the boy says, here you go.

So community does have within it all that God intends, and all that the community itself needs. At least to the degree that the members of that community yield to what God intends.

One of the many things that has brought me to this lesson is Lilly. Lilly from previous post has been given a home free of charge until Nov 1, but that home is 45 miles from where she was. As a result it has disrupted a hundred other things about her life. And yet my encouragement to her is to look around. Take inventory of where God has planted you. His provision is there, even if it only looks like a boy's lunch, there is more than enough for everyone to eat their fill.

So I preach this too myself as I hear it from the Holy Spirit. The answer to my hunger is not in another town, exhausting my efforts to get a little. The answer is somewhere right here in my community. It may look like a sack lunch, but it really is an all you can eat buffet for 5000. Father open my eyes to see it. Open my eyes to see when You are asking me for my lunch.

God help me to see your provision that is within reach, and with a little blessing will provide an abundance not only for myself, but for those close to me as well.