I look up to the mountains – does my help come from there? My help comes from the Lord, who made the heavens and the earth! – Psalm 121:1-2
When you’ve got a problem, which do you do – stare at your problem or look up to God for help? For effective Christian living you need to stop focusing on the problem, and start focusing on the power of God in your life. Things won’t look the same!
After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” – John 6:14
All that you have and all that you are is a brick. Hold onto it, hoard it for yourself, chart your own course, and you might just achieve fame and fortune, but when this life is done, what will you really have to show for it? But if you are willing to place all that you are and all that you have into the hands of God, the Master Builder, God will build a legacy from your life that feeds a hungry world and points people to eternity.
“Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” – John 6:9
What might God be able to do if you were to place all your time into his hands? What might God be able to do if you placed all your financial resources into his hands? What legacy might you leave behind? You’ll never know the power of God to multiply whatever you give if you don’t try.
When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” – John 6:5
Jesus teaches his disciples about the real hunger of this world, and it isn’t for bread alone; it’s for the Bread of Life that only Jesus can provide.
When we look to Jesus for strength and grace to live for today and tomorrow, then we will not be disappointed. Jesus can fill us with joy and light by walking with us in our depression, helping us through difficult economic times, and weeping with us in our grief.
A little boy was spending his Saturday morning playing in his sandbox. He had with him his box of cars and trucks, his plastic pail, and a shiny, red plastic shovel. In the process of creating roads and tunnels in the soft sand, he discovered a large rock in the middle of the sandbox. The lad dug around the rock, managing to dislodge it from the dirt. With no little bit of struggle, he pushed and nudged the rock across the sandbox by using his feet. (He was a very small boy and the rock was very big.)
The Apostle Paul reminds us that as Christ died and was buried and then rose again, we too, being united with Jesus through our Baptisms have gone with Jesus into death and we will go beyond to eternal life with him as well! This is not of our own doing and we can’t do it alone – without Christ. But, we need not try it on our own, for we have the Jesus who pilots us through death and into eternal life.
