what are they among so many?

As believers, the Lord has commissioned us to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the entire world (Mark 16:15). It is easy to get frustrated by the immense task before the Church of God. Today's church seems weaker and more unfocused than ever. If that were not enough, statistically the job is too large and frankly impossible for the resources at hand. Billions of people still have yet to hear even the Name of Jesus Christ while those that do know that precious Name seem entangled by the allures of this world.

As the Master - Teacher, Jesus uses a lad that has only five barley loaves and two little fishes (John 6:9) to feed 5,000 men and prove a point so easily overlooked. As the Lord goes about this miracle Andrew jumps in with the question we all ask, "but what are they among so many?" It seems that is the point to the lesson --- little is much when God is in it. If I am honest with myself - Andrew's concerns are my own concerns even today. Most Christians would say - yes, lets win the world and go to the utter most parts of the earth... but what can I do among so many??? How can we make a righteous impact on this world?? We are so few, and they are so many...

By the end of this lesson, at least 5,000 men were fed and there are now 12 extra baskets of food. In predictable and anticlimactic manner Jesus says, "gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost." Would to God the church would get serious for just one generation and seek to feed the world with the only food that will not leave them hungering and thirsting any longer - the gospel message of Jesus Christ.