When we exercise our faith, sacrifice our time and resources, and trust God with the outcome, he takes our small offerings and multiplies them beyond reason.
As a mom of two boys in elementary school, I am often drilled on mathematical equations while trying to navigate morning school traffic. It usually starts with a simple addition question like, "What is two plus two?" Then it quickly progresses to more complicated problems where I'm trying to mentally carry the two and add before I've had enough coffee and not rear-end the minivan in front of me. When I think I can't take the constant peppering anymore, the kindergartner says with a cartoonish laugh, "What is a gazillion times forty billion-quintillion?"
"Is that even a real number?!"
Of course, a gazillion is a made-up number. Defeated and exhausted, I say, "I am mind blown. You are too smart for me." I think the same thing when my finite brain tries to comprehend God's limitless math. His math is not constrained to any mathematical theory or formula. His math is mind-blowing.
Five Plus Two Equals Five Thousand
Do you remember the gospel story of the boy who gave his five barley loaves and two fish to Jesus? In John 6:1-15, a large crowd followed Jesus, attracted to His miracles of healing the sick. The Feast of Passover was approaching, and Jesus tested Philip by asking him where they could buy enough bread to feed the crowd. Philip responded by saying how much money it would take to buy enough bread for each person to have a single bite. Then Andrew points out a boy with five loaves and two fish, but Andrew doubts how far that would go. Both disciples obviously forgot who they were talking to. That's when Jesus gave thanks and fed five thousand men plus an undisclosed number of women and children. Then, He told the disciples to pack up the leftovers.
What were the factors in this equation that resulted in the mind-blowing product of over five thousand? The boy answered the call, sacrificed everything, and trusted Jesus to provide. When we exercise our faith, sacrifice our time and resources, and trust God with the outcome, he takes our small offerings and multiplies them beyond reason.
Increase Your Circle's Circumference
Jesus will not call everyone to participate in "feeding" a multitude, but every worker is purposed for a significant role in the harvest. In Matthew 9:37-38, Jesus told His disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." Our job is to till the soil and plant the seeds and to keep doing this even if we never lay eyes on a bountiful earthly harvest.
In biblical times, people had to walk everywhere, so the circumference of influence was limited, and the pace at which the good news spread was slow. Now, we can share the gospel to the other side of the world in seconds. We can increase our circle of influence right from the couch with a smartphone or a laptop.
Dr. Charles Stanley gave a sermon called The Circle of Our Impact, in which he challenges us to live out the mandate Jesus gave us to be the salt and light of the world, a reflection of his light (Matthew 5:13-16).
Well, it's certainly evident from scripture that Jesus did not intend for us to only be salt and light in our little container, but rather, we're to have a circle of impact. I think about it this way: you stand at the edge of the lake, and let's say you take a little stone or a pebble and you toss it into the water. What happens? Well, there's a bloop, and then all of a sudden there are these little circles, little ripples, that go out, and they go out further and further and further till finally the water's calm again. Now, depending on the size of the pebble, if it's just a small pebble, there are a few ripples. If it's a larger one, there are more ripples. If it's a big rock, lots of ripples, and they go a long way.
And when you think about the kind of life Jesus intended for us to live, He intended for us to live the kind of life, listen, not like grains of sand dropped in the water. How much of a ripple does a grain of sand cause? Almost none. Are you satisfied living the kind of life where the ripples of your life, the impact of your life, are like a grain of sand? Or do you want it to be like a mountain? What if your life causes such waves that it's like a tidal wave in somebody's life?
Dr. Stanley certainly lived a life that made tidal waves in the hearts of many. I have replayed this sermon several times, and as I've reflected on the charge to increase impact, I've pictured the ripples produced from the rocks I’ve thrown. I imagine God pushing these tiny waves across the oceans, and it inspires me to get to work, widening the reach of my circle.
Work for The One
I took all the writing and publishing classes I could when I started writing. So many of these classes focused on building a large social platform. In my experience, it seems the Christian writing industry is more about crunching numbers than obeying the call to write whatever the Holy Spirit incessantly whispers until you finally put it on paper and get to sleep through the night again.
I quickly became discouraged when I checked the analytics for my blog and social accounts and realized my mom was the only one reading my posts. I wondered if my labor was built in vain. Then, I went to a Christian conference and heard a story from a lady who works for Save the Storks, which provides mobile medical clinics for women with unplanned pregnancies. She wasn't a keynote speaker. This lady was there to raise money for Stork Buses, yet I recall her testimony better than any hired speakers.
This woman shared a story of two young friends who went to Mexico to get abortions. One came back with an empty womb, while the other lady returned pregnant. The one friend couldn't go through with the abortion and instead decided on adoption. The speaker announced that the pregnant lady was her biological mom. The speaker had a picture of her biological mom standing on the beach with a big baby bump. She took this picture and posted it to her tiny Instagram account with less than five hundred followers, with a few words thanking her mom for choosing life. A stranger in England, stationed there with the Navy, read the IG post and reached out to her. The Navy had been pressuring her to abort her unplanned child, but when she saw the picture on social media and read the caption, she chose life.
How in the world did someone's obscure post on an insignificant social account reach across the ocean to the one who needed it most? It wasn't Meta's algorithms. It was God’s algorithm.
Friend, when we lay anything down at the feet of Jesus, He will take it and multiply it however He sees fit in His time. Maybe we won't see the fruition of our multiplication on this side of heaven, but when we work for the audience of One, He makes sure the one who needs it most gets it.
Be encouraged to:
Spread the good news in person and online.
Text a message of comfort to a friend.
Share the Bible verse on your feed.
Send a devotional to a coworker.
Write and speak holy words the world wants to censor.
And leave the math up to God.
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/simonapilolla
