So I tried a new thing this week. I took my weekly blog post and turned it into a video. If you’d rather watch me talk about this week’s post instead of read it, click the link HERE.
Broken to Blessed
One of my favorite things is reading a story in my Bible that I’ve read and heard hundreds of times and getting something brand new from it. This happened this past week. I was reading about the miracle of the little boy who gives his lunch to Jesus. Jesus takes his five loaves of bread and 2 fishes and uses it to feed over 5,000 people. This week when I read through the story, I stopped and underlined the actions that Jesus did.
Jesus said, “Bring them here.” Then he had the people sit on the grass. He took the five loaves and two fish, lifted his face to heaven in prayer, blessed, broke, and gave the bread to the disciples. The disciples then gave the food to the congregation. They all ate their fill. They gathered twelve baskets of leftovers. About five thousand were fed.
Matthew 14:18-21 MSG
Those words kept my attention. I couldn’t stop thinking about them and wondering…Is that how God still does miracles today? I wrote those words in my journal; then I spent time looking up each word’s origins. When I studied these words and verses, it gave me a whole new insight into this miracle that I’ve never thought of before.
Blessing the Distribution
In the miracle of the loaves and fishes, the bread had to be broken first before it could be distributed. Jesus didn’t first multiply the food and then pass it out. He could have, easily. Think about it. He could have snapped his finger or said a command, and suddenly there would have been all the bread and fish needed to feed the large crowd. But that’s not how he did it. No, the increase came as he was passing it out; it came in the distribution of the bread.
The same thing happened in the Old Testament with the woman and the oil. Remember the story where Elisha told the woman to gather all the vessels she could find? Then he instructed her to pour the oil into the vessels. Once again, the oil didn’t immediately appear. No, the oil increased as she poured it out.
Matthew Henry, in his commentary, says, “Thus grace grows by being acted, and, while other things perish in the using, spiritual gifts increase in the using.”
God Blesses the Giving
So what does that mean? The principle is that God blesses the distribution. As we give of ourselves, God gives us more energy and strength. When we share our food and money with others, God blesses it and makes it go further. When we share our gifts with others—writing, painting, speaking, humor, hospitality…God blesses it in the lives of others.
It doesn’t mean that God blesses in a lump sum up front, but rather God increases our reach in the lives of others. As we pour out ourselves and our gifts, God blesses it and increases it. We want the blessing in a heap, at the beginning. But that’s not how God works. He works over the course of time, blessing as we give ourselves to others.
God Blesses Your Broken
For me personally, I am an author and a blogger. I would love for my “art, my craft” to reach hundreds of woman and encourage them and help them right now. Yet, that’s not how God uses me. He uses my broken, my distribution. He uses one of my blog posts in one woman’s life, one of my devotionals in another woman’s life, my book in somebody else altogether. My life is being poured into others a little tiny bit at a time. God blesses the pouring out. I may not see it right away; I may never see it. But others can be filled and blessed by me sharing myself and my art. My only job is to continue to pour myself out into others and let God use my broken and turn it to blessed.
How are you pouring into the lives of others today?
For More Encouragement
I am currently reading A Million Little Ways: Uncover the Art You Were Made to Live by Emily Freeman as a part of my morning time routine. It took me a little bit to get into it, but now I’m loving it! Her book goes hand-in-hand with this post. If you’re looking for a great read, check it out.