Morning Devotional 042425 God's Abundant Blessings

Liz’s Morning Devotional: Scripture selected from Upper Room

  April 24, 2025

John 6:10-14

10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass there. They sat down, about five thousand of them. 11 Then Jesus took the bread. When he had given thanks, he distributed it to those who were sitting there. He did the same with the fish, each getting as much as they wanted. 12 When they had plenty to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather up the leftover pieces, so that nothing will be wasted.” 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves that had been left over by those who had eaten. 14 When the people saw that he had done a miraculous sign, they said, “This is truly the prophet who is coming into the world.”

Good Morning. God abundantly blesses us!

Fishes and Loaves! This parable reminds me to ask myself, “How much is enough?” Not to pick on McDonald’s or the food industry, we live in a super-sized mentality. Most of us remember a time when we would have been happy to enjoy a regular-sized order of fries. We ate them and were satisfied, but somewhere along the way, we realized we needed more.

I suppose this is one of those "which came first' scenarios. Did restaurants start increasing the size of portions because we needed more, or did we eat more and demand larger portions because the restaurants began serving them? If we receive a plate that is not overflowing with food, don’t we question whether we are getting what we are paying for? 

How much is enough? Compared to many, we Americans live in a land of excess. We are encouraged to strive for the biggest and best of everything. In itself, this doesn’t have to be bad, but overabundance can lead to bad habits that, in turn, foster greed, pride, and wastefulness. 

Jesus calls us to accept the Lord’s blessings and to share our abundance with others. 

Loving Lord, Maker of all things! We live in a land of excess. Help us joyfully share all that we have we those in need. Thank you. We love you, Lord! In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen

Thought for the day: God will take care of our needs!

God’s grace is enough! Pastor Liz