Rick Warren Answers: What Does God Want From You?
In his daily devotion on New Year's Day, Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in California tackles the question what God wants from us as believers. The answer is simple, he says, explaining from a biblical incident where Jesus feeds 5,000 people with only five loaves of bread and two fish.
Referring to John 6, where Jesus asked, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?" Pastor Warren writes that many in the crowd that had gathered before Him might have hidden picnic basket under their robes because they didn't want to share with anybody else.
But one little boy offered the bread and fish that he packed for his lunch, Warren adds. "He gave Jesus what little he had, and God used it not just to feed a lot of people but also to show them how much he cared and how powerful he is."
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Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life, says God always starts with what we have. "You may not have much time. Your finances may not be worth much. You may not think you have much talent. But you can give God everything in your life. Give him your heart. Give him your reputation. Give him your past, your present, and your future. It may not be much, but you can give him your five loaves and two fish."
To feed 5,000 people was an unsolvable problem from a human perspective, but Jesus wasn't sweating what to do, the megachurch pastor writes. Jesus asked Philip where to buy bread for the people, but as it is written in John 6:6, "He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do."
The following verses say: "Philip answered him, 'It would take more than half a year's wages[a] to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!' Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, 'Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?'"
Jesus already had in mind what he was going to do, Warren writes, explaining, "He saw the need long before they did. And he had a plan."
This teaches us that God always has the answer before we are even aware of the problem. "It's not too late in the day for Jesus. He saw your problem long before you did."
Verses 10-12 state, "Jesus said, 'Have the people sit down.' There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, 'Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.' So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten."
So we know what to do when we face an "unsolvable" problem, the pastor says. Just admit it, "and then give God everything you have," he concludes.
