Doing what we can

Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things. Late in the afternoon his disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go to the nearby farms and villages and buy something to eat.” But Jesus said, “You feed them.” With what?” they asked. “We’d have to work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people!” “How much bread do you have?” he asked. “Go and find out.” They came back and reported, “We have five loaves of bread and two fish.” Mark 6:34-39

The disciples just returned from preaching and sharing the gospel. They told the Lord Jesus Christ the results of the work they have done. The reporting session did not last long for a huge crowd of people came to hear Jesus preach. Jesus felt “compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” He then began teaching them. By the time He was done teaching them, it was already late in the afternoon and the disciples realized that the crowd were hungry. They asked Jesus to send the crowd away so they could have their food. But once again, the Lord Jesus Christ felt compassion to the hungry crowd that He commanded His disciples to look for food. They returned and told Him that they found five loaves of bread and two fish. The disciples in their lack of faith taught it was impossible to feed the crowd with the amount of food they found. Yet, it was at that moment that in their limitations and lack of faith that God showed His power. Jesus prayed to the Father in heaven and blessed the minimal amount of food. Then He commanded the disciples to distribute the food and a great miracle took place where all the people were fed and there were leftovers. Once the Lord Jesus Christ took hold of the food, there was no limit as to what He could do with it. When we look at ourselves and the tasks we have to accomplish, we realized our limitations and think if we are good enough to do what God has called us to do. We might be tempted to compare ourselves to others that could lead to discouragement especially when we begin to think that we are not making any difference like others. We should not give in to such thinking for we have a God who is compassionate and all He asks of us is to do what we can and leave to Him the rest.

Blessings,

Noel De Guzman

www.my-wbc.com