Multiplication: It's What God Does

“Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted.” John 6:11

I have seen the same miracle replicated over and over nearly every day. Oh, it may not be 5,000 people fed with a single fish sandwich, but God’s world is full of turning the tiny into the tremendous. Six years ago a friend bought eight fruit trees for us to plant on our property. Last year we got our first crop of apricots, and this year the plums burst out from their blossoms.

Only seedlings when we planted them, the trees themselves have at least tripled in size. But the real miracle is the fruit, isn’t it? One plum with its pit buried ten inches under the earth produces a 100-fold crop year to year on a mature tree! In ten years the single plum becomes a thousand!

All three of my children began as a single cell formed from an egg and sperm. At four weeks after fertilization is just over one inch long. At birth, nine months later, the child will weigh from six to 10 pounds and be between 19 and 22 inches. Eighteen years later that same single cell can be a petite five foot young lady or a strapping fellow over six feet tall. Either way, the tiniest has grown to something large and much more complex than what began.

So, it should not astound us at all that Jesus, blessing the small meal provided that day, could feed the entire assembled crowd. The Son of God, who created the life we see day in and day out, blessed the little what was handed Him and did what He always does; he increased what He began with.

Why should it astound us that He can do the same with our paltry lives? Sure, we wish we might have taken different roads. We wonder how much better our lives might be if we had taken a different educational path. Or perhaps, working twenty years at the same job, we wonder what could have happened if we had taken the chance and chased down the business idea we had early on.

It doesn’t matter what it is, we all have regrets. I am certain that most people, at one time or another, feel they are inadequate for the road they travel. Parents wonder if their discipline methods will make much difference. Teachers question if they are reaching their students. An assembly worker doubts his significance. A small town farmer compares himself to the President of the United States and drags his feet downtrodden in the late Spring topsoil.

At 20 we dream; at 30 we plan and sweat for those dreams; at 40 we still have hope, but the opportunities seem to be fading; and at 50…well, we wonder if our dream meant much at all. It is easy to give up. Our stage is smaller than we expected, our sphere of influence sucked in by the gravity of time. And, if we are not careful, we give in to the sense of meaninglessness, living out our final decades coasting until we reach home.

But, how can we think that way when we see what Jesus does when He blesses a simple lunch? What mom ever thought that her boy would have a hand in providing the miraculous lunch for a crowd gathered to hear the Messiah. “I better send Jonathan with some bread and salt-fish,” she thinks. “He is liable to lose track of time and miss supper.” If only she knew.

And, if only we knew. Dream again. Dream big again. Oh, you might not have a top-40 hit or perform on Broadway. As a pastor, I know I’ll probably not serve a church over a 100 at this point. Yet, I am in the Master’s hand, just as certainly as were that bread and fish. And, so are you, if you allow Him to hold you.

In His hands, He blesses. He thanks the Father for you. That’s right…He looks up and says, “Father, thank you for this man, this woman, who has trusted me. Bless them!” It is not just “grace at supper before we eat”. It is blessing! It is the breath, the life, the incredible creative power of God Himself.

And, once blessed, we are sent, just like the bread and fish. Imagine the influence of one person who has known the Father’s blessing in the hands of His Son. Imagine the multiplication, the miracle of renewed confidence that derives from the Kingdom of Heaven. This is no mere positive-thinking or self-improvement, this is the same power that turns the seed into a thousand ripe plums ready to make a young man smile at the first bite. This is the Creative Love that Jesus desires to give to all who trust Him.

Lay aside the regrets and start again; received by Jesus, blessed in His hands, and multiplied to bring life to so many who wait for one person with the life of God to make a difference.