I always want to be the best. I want to be the best at my job. I want to play on the best teams; the sport does not matter. I want to kill the biggest deer. I want to shoot all the ducks that I can. I want to be, do, have, present, perform, speak the best. Here’s the problem; God doesn’t ask me to be the best because He knows that is a physical impossibility. Richard Stearns says, “God never asks us to give what we do not have…But he cannot use what we will not give.”

The five loaves and two fishes are a great example of this. Five thousand men, not counting women and children, are sitting on a hillside at dinner time. The disciples see this as a problem and encourage Jesus to send them away. Jesus tells the disciples to feed them. That’s physically impossible, they say. Jesus says, “How many loaves do you have?” (Mark 6.38) So, how many do you have? What gift, talent, ability do you possess that you would be willing to put in the hands of God? The disciples come back with five loaves and two fishes and Jesus says, “Bring them here to me.” (Matt. 14.18)

One kid was willing to give all that he had. The kid didn’t have much. It was a lot for one kid but not for five thousand. How much can so little do? How many lives can one person effect? How much difference can $5 or $35 make? But we must not forget that it is not the hands that give it but the hands that use it that makes the difference. If you put a few pieces of wood and some nails in my hand you’ll be lucky to get a doghouse out of it but if you put them into my father’s hands he might make a small rocker or a jewelry box. It’s the hands of the reciever that make the difference.

How many loaves do you have? The organization called World Vision can take $35 and feed, house, clothe, educate, and evangelize a child in a third-world country for a month. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, India started her orphanage with less than $5 in her pocket. The disciples picked up 12 baskets full of leftovers. Five loaves and two fishes were more than enough in the hands of Jesus. They still are. So, do not merely offer God your best, offer Him your all. “He never asks us to give what we do not have…But he cannot use what we will not give.”

“How many loaves do you have? Bring them here to me.”

“Use the talents you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.” Henry Van Dyke