The Challenge

Hey, our last post was the 100th one! Not bad huh? Of course we have lots to talk about lah.

There were so many fun and memorable happenings during our retreat that we just can't stop talking it! Hahaha.. what we wanna share now is the challenge that was laid down by Ps M in our final session. He took the story of the little boy with 5 loaves and 2 fishes (John 6:1-13) - Jesus Feeds The Five Thousand.

Let's quickly recap the story: A great crowd of people had followed Jesus as he preached on a mountainside. When he saw the crowd, he asked his disciple Philip where shall they buy bread for these people to eat, to which Philip replied that eight month wages wouldn't be able to buy enough bread for each one of them to have a bite! Then Andrew, another disciple, brought forward a boy with 5 small loaves and 2 small fish, but questioned how far can that go among so many. But Jesus have them asked the people sit down, he took the loaves and the fish, gave thanks and started distributing to the people. Not only did Jesus fed the five thousand, there were twelve basketful leftover! So the lesson to be learnt here? And the relevance to us as youths?

The little fella with the lunch didn't have much, did he, but he was willing to give that to Jesus and boy, in Jesus' hands, the little lunch became big! The little that we have in our hands right now; our talents, our gifts, we may think it's little, but give it to God and see what he can do with it. Our parents and adults may not believe we have a lot, in fact, a lot of times they tell us we don't have much to offer. But Jesus has plans for us. All Jesus needs is a willing heart, to give him our gifts and talents and he will use that to glorify God. Are we willing to give to Jesus? Like King David, we serve God in our generation. We serve God now, not wait till we finish our education, nor wait till we start working and become an adult, start our family, geesh, we might as well not start then? We serve, and we serve now. In whatever capacity, with whatever talents. Willing hearts, do we have that? Think about it.

In the passage, Jesus also taught the adults about their lack of trust. Two of his disciples didn't think Jesus could do a miracle and feed the crowd. But he showed them, and made them go collect the leftovers. Those of us who are adults, sometimes we lack the trust in young people. We think they are too playful, too raw, too young. And perhaps all they are good for are menial stuff, you know, cleaning the compound, wiping the windows, carrying chairs etc. But hey, Jesus used a little boy and his little lunch to feed five thousand? You think we need to change our perspective as well?