Interpretation:
I asked the significance of Jesus giving
thanks for the bread and fish?
Jesus set an example to give thanks to Father God even for the
littlest things. Seven loaves of bread and a few small fish were not
much but Jesus gave thanks for both of them separately. Jesus
acknowledged where they came from and only after giving thanks for the
food did Jesus distribute them.
Implications:
I saw important implications for my own life. I need to thank the Lord
Jesus even for the littlest things in life. I should not lump my
thanksgiving into one statement but as Jesus did I need to be mindful of
each individual thing the Lord Jesus has done in my life.
Reading this passage also reminded me of what Pastor Paul
Bucknell at Oakland International Fellowship spoke about one Sunday. Pastor Bucknell had exhorted the congregation not to make
their thanksgiving and grace before each meal a ritualistic event but
really mean it and be thankful for it, etc.
HOW THE GOSPEL AFFECTS
MY TESTIMONY REGARDING T.H.A.N.K.F.U.L.
When Jesus gave thanks for the bread and fish, I was reminded of
things I need to be so thankful for. I am so thankful to Jesus that my
mommy, who was a devout practicing Hindu, gave her life to Jesus
Christ and asked Jesus Christ to become Lord and Savior of her life
years ago. She realized that being a Hindu would not make her reach God
but only Christ had the ANSWER. After watching multiple Billy Graham
Crusades, she gave herself to Christ. To this day, I am so thankful
because for years since she became a born-again Christian, she still
always get up BEFORE DAWN to spend time with Jesus in HIS WORD and in
PRAYER.
The Lord Jesus used my mommy's own love for Jesus to motivate me
to spend daily time in God's Word and find fulfillment in God's Word. I
am thankful to God for using my mommy to let me know about Jesus Christ
and what He should mean in my life. My mommy would always make me
remember though I came to Jesus expecting healing from asthma, that I
need to serve Jesus not because of what I can get out of Jesus but
because of WHO HE IS. He is my Redeemer and Savior and Lord of all
Creation. Praise the Lord!
My mom would remind me also that I should NEVER EVER FOCUS ON
THE CASTE SYSTEM. I never wanted to focus on the CASTE SYSTEM but it
does not get easy when people remind you of it. At one point, an Indian
Hindu came to me and was shocked that I became a born-again Christian
and asked me how a respectable person of MY CASTE would decide to become
a follower of Christ. I told him why I became a Christian.
I am so thankful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ because it goes
BEYOND THE CASTE SYSTEM. Even if Hindus see others greater than me
because of their CASTE and others less than me because of their CASTE,
it really does not matter because in GOD'S EYES, caste system is
man-made and means nothing.
No one is good, not one. All have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23-24)
My mom, myself, and everyone else is on equal footing when it
comes to sin. There is nothing that we do that would have been
acceptable to God apart from accepting the RANSOM PAID BY CHRIST. That
alone saves us. This is what my mom and I accepted including my entire
family.
They did not all become born-again Christians at the same time
but all realized that only CHRIST IS THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE
and no one comes to the Father except through Him.
Why?
I am so thankful, we all realized sin separated MAN and GOD and
we could not save ourselves apart from Jesus Christ.
Because of sin, all the good I do will not erase the bad I
do. God does not go on an INDULGENCES system where I can do 3 good
things to cover over 2 bad things I did because I will have +1. God sees
it as 5 deeds and not all 5 deeds are holy.
Think about it, would you drink a cup
filled with 3 ounces of pure water over the 2 ounces of cyanide?
In the 5 ounces, all that 3 ounces will not erase or replace 2
ounces of cyanide.
You may say but what if I did 99 good
things to cover over 1 bad thing?
Let me ask you this: (TRUE STORY WITH SCENARIO CHANGED BUT THE
CONCEPT)
I thought about a model employee at a workplace which has a
manual for ethical standards that are absolute. If even one commandment
from the manual is broken, the person loses their job. Everyone loved
this employee because he did so much good for others. He would do 99
GOOD THINGS in a row but one day he lost his temper and did 1 BAD THING
when he swore at his boss.
The boss could not let him keep his job just because of the 99
GOOD THINGS he did in a row because the manual was absolute about
standards for firing people. The so called model employee lost his
job for that 1 BAD THING and the 99 GOOD THINGS did not replace that ONE
BAD THING. He was not given a +98 score (99 GOOD THINGS - 1 BAD THING)
It did not work that way. All his good did not replace the bad.
If man who is sinful uses standards to
make judgments on firings, and does not give a break for 1 BAD THING
being replaced by 99 GOOD THINGS, do you really think God will?
First of all no human being is perfect and
nothing we do is really good, so if an non-perfect being has laws that
govern his workplace that cannot be broken, what about God's laws in the
Bible?
You nor I can never say we are perfect and good because we are
not.
"How then can we be saved? All
of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous
acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the
wind our sins sweep us away. No one calls on your name or strives to lay
hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and made us waste
away because of our sins. Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the
clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. Do not be
angry beyond measure, O LORD; do not remember our sins forever. Oh, look
upon us, we pray, for we are all your people." (Isaiah 64:5-9, NIV)
In Christ, God has looked upon us in mercy since none of us have
true goodness that can save us. True goodness is the absence of bad.
Having done 99 good things and 1 bad thing does not make you good
anymore.
Have I lied? Yes
Have I cheated? Yes
Have I dishonored my parents at times?
Yes
I am not good anymore to reach God on my own because God in His
Holiness cannot allow sin into His presence. I cannot reach God by
PRAYING 3 TIMES A DAY, SHOWING UP AT CHURCH, WORSHIPING IDOLS, FASTING,
etc for no matter what I do, it will not take that sin away. But thanks
be to God for what Jesus Christ did for me.
Lying, cheating, dishonoring, etc are all sin and Jesus came to
take my sin away and cover me in His righteousness.
All religions try to reach God by their actions but in Christ,
God reached out to us by His actions.
It showed that God knew there is nothing you or I can do to
reach Him without His intervention, so He intervened. He intervened
mightily and with anguish so we won't perish.
For God so loved the world so much that He
gave His only Begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him shall not
perish but have Everlasting Life. God did not send His Son into the
world to condemn it but to save it. (John 3:16-17)
When sin separated MAN and GOD and put a chasm between MAN and
GOD, Jesus came to bridge that gap by putting the CROSS in the gap.
Jesus died on the cross at Calvary so by His BLOOD a permanent BRIDGE
was made to reach God. It was not a bridge built with steel but by the
precious BLOOD of Christ.
Now, when I accepted Jesus Christ into my heart asking Him to
live in me, make my heart His home, and acknowledged Him as my Lord and
Personal Savior to take away my sin, He took away all my sin and covered
me in His righteousness because of His precious BLOOD that was shed for
me.
Jesus died for my past, present, and future sins. I need not
worry about gaining brownie points with God to be acceptable to Him. God
accepts me on account of what Christ did on the cross for a sinner like
me because I accepted His free gift of grace. It is not anything I could
have earned by my CASTE or INDULGENCES.
"But God demonstrates his own
love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be
saved from God's wrath through him! For if, when we were God's enemies,
we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more,
having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is
this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have now received reconciliation." (Romans 5:8-11, NIV)
I did not have to worry about what CASTE I AM to reach God and
be acceptable to God unlike what my Hindu friends from back home think
about.
Jesus does not care about CASTE SYSTEMS and came to do away with
those. I am so thankful to know that Jesus does not REJECT US or ACCEPT
US by considering whether we are BRAHMANS, KSHATRIYA, VAISYAS,
SUDRAS, HARIJANS (DALI'S), etc. These CASTE SYSTEMS are man made anyway
to subject people to lower authority so others can abuse and demean
them.
Let me tell you why I am so thankful to come away from that. It
is because my SALVATION is not based on my CASTE system. We all have the
SAME RED BLOOD flowing through us. It will remain RED and POISONED BY
SIN no matter what CASTE we are.
Only the solution can be found in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ
came to do away with the CASTE SYSTEM and MAN-MADE RULES.
"For all of you who were baptized
into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew
nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in
Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and
heirs according to the promise." (Galatians 3:27-29, NIV)
I am so thankful man-made rules can never reach God because if
they did then Christ's death and resurrection would have been useless
and for nothing. But because IT MEANS EVERYTHING, we can have SALVATION
IN CHRIST ALONE THE HOPE OF GLORY.
God's rejection or acceptance of us is not based on what CASTE
WE ARE or WHAT WE DO FOR GOD but is BASED on CHRIST and His finished
work on the cross when we accept His free gift of grace.
"For it is by grace you have been
saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of
God— not by works, so that no one can boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9, NIV)
I am so thankful that Jesus saved me and called me His own not
because of anything I have done or will do but because He loves me and
wanted to save me. I cannot save myself no matter what I do. If I could
save myself then there would not have been any reason for Jesus to come
and bridge the gap between God and Man. Yet, Jesus became that bridge
when a chasm separated God & Man. It was the cross that made it possible
for me to be restored to the Creator of the Universe.
You can be restored to the Creator of the Universe too because
Jesus loves you so much and wants to be part of your life being your
Lord and Personal Savior. You can be thankful to Jesus for loving you so
much. Yes, He does!
I ask you now dear friend, what are you
thankful for in life?
Dear friend, there are many things to be thankful for whether they are
the littlest things to us or greater things to us. When we are thankful
for the smaller things, it also shows our gratitude towards our God
because we don't take anything for granted.
I realized any good thing that comes comes from the Lord and we
all should be thankful for that. It is not just the good things we
should be thankful for but even when things do not go well in our lives
because even through that the Lord Jesus will be working through our
lives.
"Be joyful
always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is
God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
(1 Thess 5:16-18)
Whatever
circumstances we are faced with, we have a Lord who loves us and cares
for us. He is the Author of our Lives. Nothing
happens to us without His knowledge. Some things that we worry
about could be a result of our own sin and shortcomings but even then we
should be thankful for Jesus for all He has done for us, is doing for
us, and will do for us.
You should always be thankful even for the littlest thing and
not take anything for granted.
Most of all even if we have we have nothing to be thankful for
which in itself is a lie and deception from Satan, we all should be
thankful for Jesus who came for you and me to set us free from Satan and
the bondage of sin.
Yes, friend while we were yet sinners,
Jesus Christ died for us. When we were filthy with sin, Jesus
took all that sin upon Himself on the cross to deliver you and me by His
precious cleansing blood when we turn to Him.
Friend, Jesus waits for you even this day for you to come to Him
if you have never given your life to Him. He paid the price to set you
free, was buried, and on the third day came to save.
No matter where you have been, what you have done, you can be
thankful for the One who came to save you by His grace.
We are not saved because of all the good things we think we do
or other people think we do. No friend, for God says
there is no one good, not one for all have sinned
and fallen short of the glory of God. Our good works are like filthy
rags to the Lord unless the good works are a fruit of the Spirit
because of Christ residing in us.
But God loves us so much that He sent His Son Jesus Christ into
this world to die for our sin that whosoever believeth in Him should not
perish but have Everlasting Life. (John 3:16-17)
How great is the love the Father has
lavished upon us that we should be called His dear children! (1 John
3:1)
Our Salvation is evident based on the fruit that is revealed in
our lives.
More than anything, I am thankful that Jesus Christ saved me
born originally into a Hindu family and Hindu generation. Now, by the
Lord's grace and mercies all of our immediate family is saved by the
grace of the Lord Jesus. My dad is with the Lord right now worshipping
daily! Thank you Jesus. I did not choose Jesus but Jesus first chose me
when He went to the cross to die for sinners like me too. Jesus did that for you too!
"The Lord is not
slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient
with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to
repentance." (2 Peter 3:9, NIV)
May you be thankful for even the littlest things the Lord Jesus
has done in your life and especially for the Salvation Jesus came to
give.
"Thank Healing, Almighty, Nurturing King Forever Understanding
Love!"(T.H.A.N.K.F.U.L)/"What are you T.H.A.N.K.F.U.L for in
life?"
Prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for setting an example for me by
being thankful for the seven loaves of bread and a few small fish. Help
us Oh Lord to be thankful for the littlest things too and not take
anything for granted. Oh Lord, we thank you for the Salvation you came
to give. We are loved by you and your precious blood cleanses us of all
sin. We turn our lives to thee and to the usage of your plan. Help us Oh
Lord for the glory and honor of your Name. Please let your Kingdom come
and your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. I love you Jesus.
Thank you for hearing us and answering us! Thank you for saving me! IN
YOUR NAME I PRAY JESUS! AMEN!
