Is There Any Bread in Your House?
Luke 11:5-8
John 6:5-14
Bread is a very common but important item in the lives of man. Depending on the conversation / point of reference it has different meanings. To some it means a type of food. To others it is a slang word for money or currency. Still to someone else it means substance. The actual word bread is specifically mentioned more than 400 times in the Scriptures.
In the first text, Jesus is telling a parable to the disciples. He describes a man whose neighbor has a late night visitor who was hungry. The neighbor doesn’t have any food in his house so he knocks on the door of the man’s house and requests food.
The man’s response isn’t real neighborly; he tells his neighbor that he and his whole family are in bed and he didn’t want to be bothered. However, the neighbor is persistent and refuses to leave until finally, the man succumbs.
As I read this passage the Spirit revealed a few things to me. First of all the neighbor in need knew there was bread in the man’s house. Secondly, it was late so the neighbor didn’t have a lot of choices. Third, the neighbor was bold because he was seeking help for his guest. We’ll revisit this story later.
In the second text, Jesus is teaching a multitude of people. The Bible indicates there are 5,000 men, excluding the women and children (imagine if we were to compare the percentages of men in today’s church to this account. There may have been as many as 20,000 women and children). Jesus asks the disciples what they should do, but the account in John says Jesus knew what they were going to say.
Depending on which gospel account you read there were different responses by the disciples. Some stated there wasn’t enough money to purchase food; some said send the people back home, etc. However Jesus stated the people would never make it back home – they would perish. He had compassion on them!
Christ is informed there is a little boy who was willing to share his lunch – two fish and five pieces of bread. That was all Jesus needed. The disciples are ordered to sit and eat first; then the people are grouped for feeding as well. After Jesus blessed and broke the bread everyone was fed and there were 12 baskets of leftovers.
My dear friend (s); the world is in desperate need. When a friend or stranger comes to you with a need, what are you going to do? Do you have the Spirit of God working in your life such that you can meet that neighbor’s need? Or do you decide you don’t want to be bothered. Do you minister to peoples’ needs or do you tell them to make it the best way that they can?
We are called by God to meet the needs of people (“…Peter do you love me? Feed my sheep”). The Lord is not going to take on human form and come down from heaven and minister to people – that is what we are called to do. We have no excuse. We cannot say what we have isn’t adequate – if we give it to Christ, He will bless it, break it and multiply it to make sure it meets the need (s). We should not take the easy way out and send people away hungry; we should not tell anyone seeking deliverance we don’t want to be bothered. We should be ready and willing to give them the spiritual bread they need. Our responsibility is to make sure there is bread in our house.
Be Blessed in the Lord
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