An Appointment with Christ: the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fish (Mark 6:30), Part 2

Last time we spoke about the disciples who came to Jesus after their time of Christian service outside the city and who, when they returned from their ministry journey, told Jesus everything they had done and everything they had taught. Mark recounts this as a kind of preamble to what will later be this wonderful miracle that Christ performs by multiplying the loaves and the fish.

But even in these opening words, we already find some very powerful and very profound teachings. Last time we spoke about a life lived in total dependence on God, about the importance of undertaking everything we do in the name of Jesus Christ, trusting in Him—a life clinging to God, a life that derives its strength and effectiveness from an intimate relationship with Christ Jesus—and we said that this intimacy is attained only through a life of prayer, reading the Word of God, and fellowship with other believers who inspire us with their faith and their love for the Lord. And in this way, through a life of faith in Christ, in the Spirit, we can be powerful people who are used by God.

It is so important for us Christians to cultivate that sense of total dependence on God, knowing that without Christ we are nothing and that without His power we cannot do anything truly worthwhile in the Kingdom of God. And I am speaking now to those who want to serve God, Christians who may even be serving in a church. If you want to be truly effective in Christian work, you must go to the Father again and again so that He may endow you with His power.

Effectiveness in Christian service does not come from filling one’s mind with many words, many concepts, many theologies, and much biblical knowledge; it comes from an intimate relationship in which God becomes something very unreal to you, from a relationship so intimate that the life of God becomes part of your own life.

I think of the account in the Old Testament when Moses went up Mount Sinai to receive the tablets of the Law. Moses spent a long time alone on the mountain in intimacy with God, receiving instruction from God.

The Bible says that when Moses came down after that awesome and powerful encounter with God, his face shone so brightly that the people were terrified when they saw him, and he had to put a kind of sackcloth veil over his head because the glory of God reflected through his face was so great that it struck terror into those who saw him.

And here I see such a beautiful picture of what that intimacy of life with God is: it makes that closeness to God so great that the power of God is transmitted to us, and the very glory of God comes to shine through us and is reflected in our words, in our actions, and even in our very appearance, in the sense that when people see us and interact with us, they actually see the grace, love, mercy, meekness, power, and authority of Christ Jesus. The Christian life has to be like that—a contagious life in which we draw near to Christ, live in Him, fill ourselves with Him, remain aware that without Him we are nothing, allow Him to transmit His power to us, allow His Holy Spirit to enter into us and manifest His life through us, allow the works and the fruit of the Holy Spirit to be manifested through our daily actions, so that we may then be truly effective for the Lord.

Because, again, I believe that the healing God can carry out through our lives does not come through the words we may say or the advice we may give people in the flesh, but rather through God’s energy being transmitted—through God’s regenerating, healing, transforming power being so present within us that when we come into contact with others, that power is transmitted to them.

That is why the apostle Paul says that the Gospel does not consist of words but of the power of God. What we truly have to do is fill ourselves through that closeness we see here in the apostles: they gathered with Jesus again. It is so important for us to receive that vitality from God because what will happen is that, when that vitality of God is within us, it will then be manifested through us to others, and simply by the way we walk, we will bless those around us.

I do not know whether you have ever met someone who is so full of the grace of God that simply by being near us, that person blesses us. When that person comes to our home and stays with us or simply visits us, it is as though, upon leaving, they leave behind that sweetness of God’s presence, that joy of feeling almost as though an angel had visited us. Those people who, when we talk with them, inspire confidence in us and give us encouragement for life, and simply being near them somehow already gives us a reason to have hope and to see things in a different way.

Well, I believe that happens because the grace of God is so powerfully present in those people that God manifests Himself through them. Because, again, the Kingdom of heaven is a Kingdom of power; it is a Kingdom of energy, and not so much of words, philosophies, teaching, or theoretical theology, but of works of power in Christ Jesus. The apostle Paul says: “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for the destruction of strongholds.”

The Christian moves in the power of God, and that power comes only when we cling to Him, when we live with an attitude of total dependence, when in our minds we have settled who is in charge and who truly is the foundation of our life. It has to be God. When you cultivate that attitude of total attachment to God, wonderful things happen. When you do not trust in yourself. The writer of Proverbs says: “My son, do not trust in your own wisdom; do not lean on your own understanding.” We must seek God’s wisdom; we must consult God about the events of life. There are major decisions that you have to make in your life. The one who advises you must be God, the wisdom of God. The apostle James says: “If anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives abundantly and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” Many people go through life making wrong decisions and regretting their mistakes because they do not take the time to depend on God and to seek from Christ, within their inner being, the counsel they need—the wisdom that only God can give. Wisdom comes only from God, and that is why you must consult God about the great matters of life.

I also think of the words of the apostle James, who says in James 4:13: “Come now, you who say, ‘Today and tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, remain there a year, trade, and make a profit,’ when you do not know what tomorrow will bring; for what is your life? It is certainly a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.’”

You see, that is the attitude I see in the Word of God—that attitude of consulting Christ before we do anything. Like the apostles, we go out from Him, work in Him, and return to Him to be strengthened, so that He may speak to us, give us perspective, minister to us, and teach us the true meaning of life’s experiences; and then we are prepared to return once again to the struggles and challenges of Christian service and everyday life. If you live your life this way, with an attitude of dependence, consulting God, and cultivating God’s presence in your life, you will be a man or woman of great success and great effectiveness, and the peace of the Lord will be imparted to you and through you. May the Lord bless you, and we will continue in our next session.