Mark 6:41-42 (ESV)
C.S. Lewis wrote in his book Surprised by Joy, “I sometimes wonder whether all pleasures are not substitutes for Joy.” In a world of almost unlimited pleasures, it takes a wilderness to strip them all away and turn us toward the ultimate source of joy. God provided rest for his people in the wilderness.
A second theme that runs through the Scriptures is the theology of smallness. God continually uses small things. Our culture is built on the idea that bigger is better. If a 10oz coke is good, that’s what size they were when I was a kid, then a 12oz is better, and if a 12oz coke is good, then let’s make them 16ozs. Bigger is better. A small church is okay, but a big church can offer so much more. When I was a Bible College student I came in with the idea that if a church was over 100 in regular attendance then it was probably time to split the congregation and plant another church. But then I encountered people who believed that you couldn’t even have a viable church under 100 or even 200. Bigger was considered better.
Yet throughout the Scriptures God continually uses small things. He uses one couple, Adam and Eve, to populate the earth. He uses one man, Noah, to save mankind. He uses one man, Abraham, to establish the nation of Israel. He uses Moses, a man who says he’s not a leader or a public speaker, to lead the people out of Egypt. Israel was never a large nation compared to the nations of the world, yet God called them to be a blessing to the world and called them his people. He used Gideon and 300 men to rout the host of the Midianites. God used one prophet, Elijah, to stand up against 450 prophets of Baal. He used the small town of Bethlehem to be the birthplace of his son, and he used a vulnerable baby born in a barn to be the savior of the world. God is into small things that have a big impact.
Sometimes we feel that we are not really all that significant. Our resources are limited and our size is small. But God not only provides rest for his people in the wilderness; he also empowers them to change the world in ways they never see coming. God uses resource limited, insignificant people to change his world. We need a theology of small.
[41] And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. [42] And they all ate and were satisfied.
C.S. Lewis wrote in his book Surprised by Joy, “I sometimes wonder whether all pleasures are not substitutes for Joy.” In a world of almost unlimited pleasures, it takes a wilderness to strip them all away and turn us toward the ultimate source of joy. God provided rest for his people in the wilderness.
A second theme that runs through the Scriptures is the theology of smallness. God continually uses small things. Our culture is built on the idea that bigger is better. If a 10oz coke is good, that’s what size they were when I was a kid, then a 12oz is better, and if a 12oz coke is good, then let’s make them 16ozs. Bigger is better. A small church is okay, but a big church can offer so much more. When I was a Bible College student I came in with the idea that if a church was over 100 in regular attendance then it was probably time to split the congregation and plant another church. But then I encountered people who believed that you couldn’t even have a viable church under 100 or even 200. Bigger was considered better.
Yet throughout the Scriptures God continually uses small things. He uses one couple, Adam and Eve, to populate the earth. He uses one man, Noah, to save mankind. He uses one man, Abraham, to establish the nation of Israel. He uses Moses, a man who says he’s not a leader or a public speaker, to lead the people out of Egypt. Israel was never a large nation compared to the nations of the world, yet God called them to be a blessing to the world and called them his people. He used Gideon and 300 men to rout the host of the Midianites. God used one prophet, Elijah, to stand up against 450 prophets of Baal. He used the small town of Bethlehem to be the birthplace of his son, and he used a vulnerable baby born in a barn to be the savior of the world. God is into small things that have a big impact.
Sometimes we feel that we are not really all that significant. Our resources are limited and our size is small. But God not only provides rest for his people in the wilderness; he also empowers them to change the world in ways they never see coming. God uses resource limited, insignificant people to change his world. We need a theology of small.
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