Our readings today
remind us that we are called to give God everything we have. We are inspired by
the servant and the little boy, who didn’t have much but gave the very best of
what they had and all that they had for God. In turn, He multiplied their gifts
above and beyond what they could have imagined. God will do the same for us
today. We must allow Him to do so.
Our first reading from the second book of
Kings foreshadows the multiplication of the loaves and fish in our Gospel
today. The servant brings to the king, Elisha, twenty barley loaves from the
first fruits of the harvest and fresh grain. Elisha gave strict commands to
give it to the people to eat. The servant questioned, “how can I set this
before a hundred people?” Yet Elisha stated that the Lord said, “They shall eat
and there shall be some left over.” And we hear that it was true, people ate
and still, there was food left over.
Likewise, in our Gospel Jesus asked the
apostles how they were going to feed the crowd that had been following them.
Philip replied that not even 200 days’ worth of wages would be enough for the
number of people. All they had were five barley loaves and two fish from a
little boy. Yet Jesus multiplied the food so that there were baskets left over.
All ate and were satisfied.
The servant and the little boy are excellent
examples for us as Christian stewards. The servant gave the very best of what
he had, and the boy gave all that he had, then God did the rest.
We must ask ourselves, what is our very best,
and are we giving it to God? It can be easy to give God the bare minimum. It is
convenient and doesn’t cause us to stretch ourselves. Yet, a key component of
living as a good steward is constantly re-evaluating our lives, particularly
our relationship with God, to ensure we are not just ‘scraping by,’ but rather,
giving God our entire lives.
As we evaluate our lives, we should ask
ourselves — "how am I giving God my time, using my talents, and sharing my
treasures?"
We are called to give God adequate time each
day and if we don’t plan it out then it is likely that He won’t get any. Maybe
it is the first fifteen minutes of each morning or the first fifteen when we
get home from work. It could be the moment all the kids are napping or a quiet
fifteen minutes on our lunch break. We need to find what works best for us so
that God can become a greater part of our daily lives.
An additional way we are called to spend our
time is with our loved ones. We are called to give undivided time to our
families—whether it is having a family meal, quality time in the evening, a
family game in the back yard, praying together, or a phone call to check in on
our siblings or relatives—giving our families time is a key component of living
as a Christian steward.
We are also called to put our gifts and
talents to good use too. We all have countless talents that we are asked to use
each day, yet sometimes we miss the opportunity to use them well. Yet the
servant and the boy teach us that it is not up to us to decide how our gift
will affect others. God will do that. All we need to do is to give it well. So
whether we are called to go to work to provide for our family, phone a friend
to just listen, or cook three meals a day for our spouse and kids, we are
called to do it for the glory of God and with our whole heart.
Lastly, the servant reminds us that we are
called to give the first fruits of our treasures. The servant gave to Elisha
the very best of his harvest, not the scraps. It shows how important God was to
that servant. And likewise, in our Gospel, the little boy shared all that he
had with Jesus, not just part of it.
We are called to do the same. It is easy to
give something; it is difficult to give the finest gift. Giving our very best
requires us to evaluate our priorities in life. We must ask ourselves—do my
spending habits reflect that God is the top priority in my life? Do I view all
of my possessions as gifts from God that can be used for His glory?
Giving God our finest gift can be a challenge.
I am sure the little boy was thinking to himself, ‘I just gave up my dinner!’
Yet it is always worth it. When we strive to live out our call as Christian
stewards by entrusting all that we have been given to the One who graciously
gave us these gifts, we will be blessed beyond measure.
As we begin a new week, let us spend some time
evaluating our relationship with God by asking, ‘what is my very best, and am I
giving it to God?’
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