OUR LIMITATIONS REVEAL THE WONDERS OF GOD’S GRACE
THE DANGER OF ILLEGITIMATE FAITH
Andrew committed two crucial mistakes here and both failures reveal his inability to perceive Christ’s sovereignty and power to ordain grace upon our lives.
The first words of his statement revealed the first blunder. “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish.” For a man who saw firsthand how the Lord turned the water into wine, healed the son of a royal official from a distance, miraculously restored a paralytic just by a simple command, we would expect that Andrew will come to Jesus saying, “LORD, I KNOW YOU. I BELIEVE IN YOU. I HAVE EXPERIENCED THE REALITY OF YOUR POWER. I WITNESSED THEM. YOU HAVE THE ABILITY TO FEED THESE MULTITUDE OF PEOPLE IF YOU WILL.”
But no. He just presented a young boy before the Lord as the solution to this overwhelming problem. Andrew has no need to trust the Lord because he has nothing to entrust. The boy must do the giving up and surrendering for him.
When the Lord tests our hearts, He really wants us to discover if our faith is legitimate or if we are just trying to emulate and imitate. There are few things in life as self-deceptive like a spurious faith. Some people call it “secondhand faith.”
It is not our own. We are embracing a faith anchored on somebody else’s belief.
PROMOTING TRUTHS THAT HAVE NEVER TRANSFORMED US
Some speak confidently of the glory of God, the veracity of Scripture and the joy of the Christian life. But they are nothing more than mental comprehensions, never convictions of the heart. Possessing godly rhetoric but the faith is never authentic.
If we are not careful and vigilant, we can deceive ourselves. We will promote the Bible that we do not really understand. We will evangelize people with the Gospel that has not really transformed our souls. We will talk about saving faith on a Savior that we do not truly trust nor even love. We will inspire some people with Christian posts and Bible quotes that never burned our hearts. I call it “copy-paste Christianity”. Superficial and artificial. Convenient and undemanding. We see it all around us. It is a very unpleasant way to live.
Paul speaking about the last days referred to such a kind:
“Having the appearance of godliness but denying its power.” (2 Timothy 3:5)
God spoke about these people through the Prophet Isaiah:
And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men.” (Isaiah 29:13)
The Holy Scripture gives this wise counsel:
2 Corinthians 13:5
“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”
CONSIDER THE TRUE OBJECT OF YOUR TRUST
Instead of affirming his faith on the person of the Lord, Andrew placed his confidence on a young boy. Whenever our confidence becomes worldly; our minds will inevitably dwell in inadequacy.
That led Andrew to commit his second error. He said, “…but what are they for so many?” It is the mistake of immersing our hearts at the deficiency and eventually seeing only the futility. He saw only the magnitude of the problem and nothing else. Too much concern in earthly problems will displace a fledging faith in in the Almighty God.
We are reminded of what the Lord said:
Matthew 13:20-21
As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.
WHY OUR WEAKNESS IS KEY TO GOD’S GRACE
Every gift of grace that man receives from God’s benevolent throne will only be possible through the framework of our sheer impotence.
God’s admonition to the Apostle Paul:
“MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU, FOR MY POWER IS MADE PERFECT IN WEAKNESS.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)
Philip and Andrew were both trying to solve this problem exclusively by human competence. This error blinded them to depend on God’s omnipotence. God loves to magnify His power in the backdrop of our shortcomings.
Fortunately for us, He willed that our inadequacy become a catalyst for blessings. His GRACE will come through the path of utter TRUST and DEPENDENCE. It is called FAITH. It is the key to an unbeliever’s salvation, to a Christian’s spiritual growth and humanity’s hope for any revival and restoration. It is because of faith that we surrender ourselves and our desperate condition into His hands. Without it, God will never impart the wonders of His mercy, power, and benevolence.
OUR POVERTY EXPOSES GOD’S GENEROSITY
Do not be surprised why He would use a young, simple, poor village boy and his lowly food to exhibit His glorious power. (Barley bread is the cheapest and was called the ‘poor man’s food). Yes, the Master can just command bread from heaven. Multiply the Apostles money to buy or just produce food out of nothing. He can. But He didn’t.
He waited for a destitute boy to surrender his meager food into His Hands by an act of faith. Only after then a miracle has happened. A powerful act of God that blessed and dazzled so many. That is how He will work in your life. That is how He will use your failure, your desperation, your poverty, your hopelessness, your pain, your inadequacy to bless you and many others for His Glory. Only through a voluntary step of trusting surrender that proves faith in JESUS is real within.
A TIME TO EXPERIENCE THE WONDER OF HIS GRACE
We are in a marvelous time. God has ushered the world into an ordeal of limitation and weakness. Somehow, this is good. He is giving the world an opportunity to experience the marvel of His grace. Grace to save those who will surrender their lives in repentance and faith. Grace to strengthen His church during a period of self-examination and testings. Grace to show the world the trustworthiness of His Words and the insufficiency of human wisdom.
Let us hope in God’s ability to reveal His power and glory after a time of adversity,
Pastor Jay-R Remorosa