Friends in Christ Weekly Message
August 22, 2000

The people ate all they wanted, and Jesus told his disciples to gather up the leftovers, so that nothing would be wasted.
John 6:12 (CEV*)

We usually think of this end of the story of the feeding of the 5,000 simply in terms of the food being so abundant that it was more than people could eat. That indeed is quite significant, but there's even more here.

Jesus was concerned "that nothing would be wasted." The concern for recycling, for not wasting resources, is not something new to our generation. It is Biblical. We need to be responsible in our use of the abundant resources God has provided us.

Sometimes we treat the world God has given us as something to be exploited, something that is ours to do what we will with it. But in fact it is not really ours:

The earth and everything on it belong to the Lord.
The world and its people belong to him.
Psalm 24:1 (CEV*)

And this fact goes even beyond material resources and living creatures. It also applies to the gifts God has given us - our abilities, creative talents, knowledge, etc. It even applies to the time we are given in this life. These are not to be wasted - not fully used or frittered away. They are to be used to the glory of God.

Probably each one of us is guilty of wasting some of what belongs to the Lord. Let us each dedicate or re-dedicate ourselves to using all the created order and all our personal gifts as God intended.

Bill Samuel

* Contemporary English Version ©1995 American Bible Society.

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