Over the years, I have discovered that God’s grace is like a bubbling, overflowing spring, not something in a bucket that we use up. As we share God’s grace in reaching out to others, it becomes more than it was before. This is a constant source of amazement to me, but it shouldn’t be. God is that way Himself! He’s everywhere, in every place, all the time, from before time and throughout eternity, and His grace is an expression of who He is. Our problem is not that we expect too much from God, we expect too little. Today, let’s consider a familiar scene from Mark’s Gospel and what it might mean for our lives.

Late in the afternoon his disciples came to [Jesus] and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go…and buy something to eat.” But Jesus said, “You feed them.” “With what?” they asked… “How much bread do you have?” he asked. …They came back and reported, “We have five loaves of bread and two fish.” Then Jesus told the disciples to have the people sit down…So they sat down in groups of fifty or a hundred. Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them… Breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people. He also divided the fish for everyone to share. They all ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftover bread and fish… 5,000 men and their families were fed from those loaves! (Mark 6:35-44 excerpted)

This familiar story reveals how our thinking is so very different from God’s thinking. Jesus had been teaching thousands of people who were getting tired and hungry. So the disciples said to Jesus, “Send the crowds away so they can go…and buy something to eat.” I love Jesus’ response: “You feed them.” Wouldn’t you just love to have seen the disciples faces! But they did as Jesus asked and went out to inventory the available supplies. They came back with this grand total: “We have five loaves and two fish.” Then Jesus gave them directions. “OK, have everyone sit down on the grass in groups. Now wait a moment while I say grace…” Mark then states, “…breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people. He also divided the fish for everyone to share.” Did you catch that? He kept giving the bread to the disciples…it was multiplying in His hands as He gave it to them. And when “they all ate as much as they wanted” the disciples gathered up twelve baskets of leftovers.

There is an important principle here: God’s grace grows as we share it for others. Do you want to experience more of God’s grace? Start sharing it. Reach out and care for others. There’s plenty to go around...and that is very Good News! Thanks for listening. And thanks, Dave, for the grace you’ve shared with TMI’s listeners three times weekly since March of 2023.