By Tope Banso.
“So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, ‘Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.’ Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten” (John 6:12-13 New King James Version).
The supernatural multiplication of five barley loaves and two small fish by Jesus to feed a huge crowd including about 5,000 men is the only miracle of Jesus recorded in all the Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Truly, man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God but man still needs bread for survival. That was why Jesus didn’t just feed the people with spiritual food; he also fed them with physical food. You won’t lack both spiritual and physical food in Jesus’ name.
Prior to this, Jesus had asked Philip where they could buy bread to feed the crowd, and he had replied, “Someone would have to work almost a year to buy enough food for so many people” (John 6:7 New Century Version).
After everybody had eaten to satisfaction, Jesus said the leftovers should be gathered so that nothing would be wasted. Twelve baskets of leftovers were then gathered from a meal of five barley loaves and two small fish eaten! The amount of leftovers was even a greater miracle than the number of people fed to satisfaction with very little!
That instruction of Jesus to gather the leftovers so that nothing be wasted is very important. On another occasion when he fed 4,000 with seven loaves of bread, seven large baskets of leftovers were gathered (Matthew 15:37; Mark 8:20). Nothing was wasted.
Many people pray for abundance, and when God answers them, they squander it. After that, they return to God in prayer and fasting, and run from one prayer meeting or church programme to the other for another miracle of abundance. That’s not condemning attending such programmes.
How you use what God has blessed you with is very important. Wastefulness is one of the reasons some don’t prosper or God doesn’t answer their prayers for abundance. God doesn’t want to keep subsidizing people’s foolish misuse of the resources He has blessed them with. God is not a prodigal father; don’t be a prodigal son.
Repent of wastefulness today. Don’t waste time, money, food, water, fuel, electricity, opportunities, etc. Use everything judiciously. Avoid wastefulness (Luke 16:1).
This is wisdom for living, and it’s worth sharing.
●●Banso, an Abuja-based minister can be reached via cedarministryng@gmail.com; on
Tel No: +2348155744752, +2348033113523; and on WhatsApp No: +2349081295947.