And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves,
and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves
to [his] disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. (Matthew 14:19).
How many times does 5000 go into 5 and 2? Once--with some
of the 5 and 2 left over.
With our new life in Christ we better be prepared to be
reeducated. The way we have thought about things in the past will not be the way we need
to think about things present or in the future. Realizing that we are new creations, and
that old things are past away and all things have become new (2 Cor.5:17), we should be
ready to check our old ways of reasoning and thinking at the door. No, that does not mean
we check our brains at the door--it simply means that we learn to "walk by faith, no
longer by sight." Because, if we are not careful, our human reasoning will quickly
put our eyes on the wrong things. And rather than keeping our eyes upon Christ, we train
our focus steadily upon our problems and situations.
With our new life comes new math. That math is not the new math taught in public schools.
Instead, it is a math that only makes sense in the spirit and when read within the context
of the Bible and seen in the movement of God's Spirit. It is the math that tells us that
all we need to feed 5000 men and their families is five loaves of bread and two fishes. It
is a math that is not logical and is not constrained by mathematical laws and theorems. It
is not a math that is worked out on paper--but worked out in faith.
This kind of math leads us to become extraordinary givers. For as we see a need that God
desires to meet, and we see that need requiring X amount of dollars, we do not flinch and
throw up our hands and say that it must not have been God's will. Imagine the 5000 if
Jesus would have assessed the situation and determined that since He could not readily see
God's provision with His eyes. that it must not have been God's will for the people to
eat.
As extraordinary givers we trust God to meet X when all we have on hand is half of X, or
maybe less. As extraordinary givers we do not consider a need for a financial cushion
because we realize that God's math means that He will always supply our need.
It is not enough to ask God to show us needs that need met, we must also ask Him to meet
that need through us. And as we see the need and realize that meeting the need will blow
the budget plans, we do not throw up our hands and say, "Oh well, we can't do it
'cause we haven't got the money."
The thing to keep in mind is that God is not going to ask us to do something for which He
will not also make a way to do it. And as we consider the work of the church and examine
our budgets, we might discover some wondrous events will occur when we stop being slave to
the bottom line, and start moving toward ministry with full knowledge that God will give
us everything we need to do what He asks.
It is not a question of math or human reasoning--but
instead, it is a matter of simple trust and obedience.
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God's Math