Quest 16 - With What
Lunch as a kid was awesome, wasn’t it? You get a break from school to hang out with your friends and barter your lunch items like you are on Pawn Stars or American Pickers. Outside of recess and/or gym class, it was always the best time of the day.
Sidebar - here is my ranking of school provided lunches.
Chicken Twisters - a Quincy High School speciality. All it was was a chicken tender in a tortilla covered in ranch, but it was delicious.
Square Pizza - It’s an absolute classic. The Frank Sinatra of school lunches.
Garlic bread with the cheese on it or the original Bosco Sticks - killed your breath and your stomach the rest of the day, but it was great.
Lunch as an adult though… it kind of stinks doesn’t it. You are stuck in a position of deciding whether you want to eat healthy, eat cheap, or spend money to feel bad about cheating on your diet that you started on Monday.
Many of us - look at our cheap little lunch box that we brought to work filled with tupperware that we are absolutely going to forget and have to throw away… and we despise it. It’s definitely not what we want to eat because meal prepping is just eating leftovers all of the time, what we craved the previous night isn’t what we crave at the moment, and we don’t think it’s going to satisfy us.
You already know that I’m going to flip this on us….
Unfortunately, I see this happening with our faith on a regular basis. I think it’s really easy to look at what we were planning to do in life and we despise it in the moment.
That calling that Jesus gave us, it seems great when we are inspired… until we aren’t.
That generosity that we felt God push us towards seems great… until we check our bank account.
That life plan that God put in our heart is amazing… until we see how much work it’s going to take.
That life change that we felt convicted to make is the right move… until the temptation hits us.
Life is a constant push back and forth between this moment of motivation and the moment of action. Many of us have the motivation and it is an amazing thing, then it comes time to go, like our lunch that we brought to work, and suddenly we don’t want to follow through.
Why is that?
I think it’s two reasons.
1. We don’t think it’s going to satisfy us.
The phrase “Don’t sacrifice what you want now for what you want most” is a very common phrase, but in this scenario it’s true. In the moment, we can’t let our desires outweigh the desires that God has for us. We KNOW that the long-term option is better so don’t let your short term desires take away from your opportunity to experience God’s long term plan. I know it may not be what you want in the moment, but if you are honest with yourself, the long term is going to be way more satisfying.
2. We don’t think it’s going to be enough.
This goes back to the story of feeding the 5000 for me. I love this story and I am glad that we read it in Quest this week. I love this little interaction between Jesus and the disciples in
Mark 6:36-37, “Send the crowds away so they can go to the nearby farms and villages and buy something to eat.”
37 But Jesus said, “You feed them.”
“With what?” they asked. “We’d have to work for months to earn enough money[g] to buy food for all these people!”
That question “With What?” cracks me up for some reason. I can’t blame them. This was a lunch for a little boy, I doubt it could even fill me up, let alone 5000 (plus women and children) There was a clear lack of belief that whatever God has given them was going to be enough.
We fall into the same world often.
You call me to be generous? With what?
You call me to lead people? With what?
You call me to tell my friend about Jesus? With what?
You call me to change my habits and who I am? With what?
The answer is…. With the lunch that was packed. God has a plan, use what he has given you, and believe that He will provide.
The plan of generosity? He will provide the funds.
The plan of leadership? He will provide the skill set.
The plan of evangelism? He will provide the words.
The plan of habit change? He will provide the support system.
He provides and when he provides… it satisfies us and it is EVEN MORE than enough. Look at the scripture again…
Mark 6:41-44, “Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people. He also divided the fish for everyone to share. 42 They all ate as much as they wanted, 43 and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftover bread and fish. 44 A total of 5,000 men and their families were fed.”
Look I don’t know your lunch plans or your life plans…. But just follow through with it. It’s worth it.