Divine Multiplication

Divine Multiplication

A Mother Who Packed A Little Lunch

Read: John 6:8-9

Elaine raised her eyebrows as she looked at her checkbook. I can’t believe I made it through another month. With no savings to fall back on when she was laid off, Elaine felt sure that she would have to borrow money to pay her monthly bills. But after five months of living on unemployment benefits, she still had a roof over her head, and she hadn’t missed a meal. Her bills were all paid, although she wasn’t sure how. I never knew such a small amount could stretch so far, Elaine marveled, and whispered, “Thank you, God.”

Elaine’s reaction pales in comparison with what I imagine a woman behind the scenes in John 6 felt—the mother who packed her son’s lunch and then learned that it had fed five thousand men plus women and children. Her son must have burst through the door to share his news. The mother beamed with pride when she understood that he had shared his lunch, but her smile faded as she began to comprehend his excited words. There wasn’t enough food in her entire village to feed a crowd like that, and Jesus had done it with the small lunch she had packed for her son? One thing she knew for certain—there was something different about this rabbi.

When we compare ourselves with others, we may feel as if we don’t have much to offer to God. We imagine what great things we would do for him if we had a beautiful singing voice, powerful speaking ability, great talent, intelligence, or lots of money. But when we offer our time and resources to God in a spirit of loving service, he multiplies our small efforts into something great. If we place our lives in God’s hands, someday we will be amazed at what he has done with our “little lunches.”

[Jesus said,] “To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance.”

Matthew 25:29