Small Gifts in Jesus' Hands

A boy's lunch looked tiny next to a crowd of five thousand men. But Jesus did not ask how big the gift was. He asked for it to be brought to Him.

The lunch. Andrew said, “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?” (John 6:9).

Bring them. Matthew tells us what Jesus said about the loaves and fish: “Bring them here to Me” (Matthew 14:18). The food had to go into Jesus' hands.

In His hands. Then Jesus “took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples” (Matthew 14:19).

Long before. In the days of the prophet Elisha, there was a famine in the land. A man brought Elisha “twenty loaves of barley bread” (2 Kings 4:42).

A servant's question. Elisha said to share it with the people. But his servant said, “What? Shall I set this before one hundred men?” (2 Kings 4:43). He sounded a lot like Andrew.

God's answer. God's word was, “They shall eat and have some left over” (2 Kings 4:43). And they did, “according to the word of the Lord” (2 Kings 4:44).

Greater than Elisha. Elisha's servant fed one hundred men with twenty loaves. Jesus fed five thousand men with five loaves. Elisha passed on what God said. Jesus is God the Son, so the power was His own.

Moses asked too. Once Moses wondered how God could feed all Israel with meat. God answered, “Has the Lord’s arm been shortened?” (Numbers 11:23). God is never short of power.

Not by our strength. “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,” says the Lord (Zechariah 4:6). The miracle never depended on the size of the lunch.

The Maker of bread. “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made” (John 1:3). The One who made every field of grain could make five loaves enough.

Everyone had a part. The boy had the food. Andrew told Jesus about it. The disciples carried the bread to the people. Jesus did the miracle, and He received the glory.

What we learn. The size of a gift is not what matters most. What matters is whose hands it is in.

What to do. Think of one thing you have that seems small. Tell Jesus that it belongs to Him, and ask Him to use it.

All through the Bible, God takes something small and ordinary that a person already has, and He does great things with it.

A shepherd's stick. When God sent Moses to Egypt, He asked him, “What is that in your hand?” Moses said, “A rod” (Exodus 4:2). It was just a shepherd's stick.

A stick in God's plan. Later God told Moses, “But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it” (Exodus 14:16). God used that plain stick at the Red Sea.

A handful of flour. In a famine, a widow in the town of Zarephath had only a handful of flour and a little oil. She made a small cake for the prophet Elijah first, and her flour and oil did not run out (1 Kings 17:10-16).

A shepherd boy's sling. When David went out to face Goliath, he “chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook,” and “his sling was in his hand” (1 Samuel 17:40). A sling was an ordinary shepherd's tool.

Not by a sword. God gave David the victory “with a sling and a stone,” and “there was no sword in the hand of David” (1 Samuel 17:50). God used what a boy already had.

God sees the heart. “For man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). God cares more about the love behind a gift than about its size.

Gifts to share. “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:10). Minister means serve. Every Christian has something God gave them to share.

A happy giver. “So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7). Cheerful means glad.

Kids count. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them” (Mark 10:14). You do not have to wait until you are grown up to give Jesus your gifts.

Your hands. Your gifts might be a kind word, a drawing for someone who is sad, time to help at home, a song, a prayer for a friend or part of your snack.

The biggest gift. “Though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). Jesus gave Himself for us.

Love that gives. Paul wrote about “the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). We give because He gave first.

What we learn. God does not need big gifts. He wants willing hearts and open hands.

What to do. This week, give one small thing to someone in Jesus' name, and do it with a glad heart.