Pain to Purpose Devotional - DAY 33
Week 5: Jesus
SCRIPTURE:
John 12:24 (NIV)
24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
John 16:33
33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
DEVO:
The feeding of the five thousand is not only a powerful miracle, but an incredible symbol in and of itself—one that gives us insight into the purpose God might have for our pain. Scripture tells us that Jesus acquired the bread and fish from the disciples, placed the bread in His hands, held it up to heaven, blessed it, broke it, and had the disciples distribute it. This very act of blessing, breaking, and distributing for a miracle gives us a beautiful metaphor for our lives as we walk through trial.
It is tempting to assume that when Jesus blesses your life, things will always go well for you. You’ll always be in good health, your bank account will be full, your stomach will never be empty, and your family will always be safe from harm. Unfortunately, this is not the picture of life Jesus gave us. He warned us that there will be sorrow in this world, but that we should take heart because He has overcome the world (John 16:33). In fact, Jesus places His hand on the bread and fish, presents it toward Heaven to His Father and his blessing precedes a very intentional and strategic breaking.
It seems that rather than health, wealth and happiness, scripture indicates that Jesus’ blessing is evidenced by hardship, trial, and adversity. Jesus hand-picked the disciples to partner with Him in a colossal endeavor — change the world by starting the Church. And yet each one of the disciples were martyred in one form or another. So what does that mean for us? That the closer we get to Jesus, the more His hand is on us, the more the hand of the enemy is against us? Perhaps.
This can be an unnerving thought. In fact, this thought may cause a tremor of fear in your heart. Many people throughout history have chosen to allow this notion to paralyze them or influence them to stay as far away from God’s work as possible, so as not to get caught up in this pandemic of brokenness. But there are a few things wrong with taking this approach: One, we all experience brokenness in this fallen world. I suppose I much prefer my chances being as close to Jesus as possible when adversity floods my life as opposed to the alternative.
Secondly, avoiding being used in this way by Jesus plays directly into the enemy’s strategy. If he can get you to focus on the brokenness rather than the blessing, it will neutralize your effectiveness as a believer in this life, and then he’s won. He’s accomplished exactly what he set out to do—steal your joy, kill your impact, and destroy your future.
Another problem with avoiding the brokenness at all costs is that it deprives you and others of the blessing that brokenness could be. Think about the bread and the fish. Had they not been broken they could never have been distributed. The people present could have never benefited from the nutrition. There is a spiritually starving world waiting for warriors like us, who are willing to embrace the brokenness that inevitably exists in this world and allow Jesus to turn it around to help others. Personally, I’d rather be in the hands of Jesus during my brokenness than to be a lone, dried out, indignant, mangled pile of bread pieces who refused to allow Jesus to turn my misery into ministry.
Much later in Jesus’ ministry, on the last night before He was arrested, tried, beaten, and hung on a cross for the sin of the world, He would share a meal with his disciples. During that meal, which tradition affectionately refers to as the “Last Supper,” Jesus once again held up a piece of bread, blessed it, broke it, and distributed it to His disciples. “This is my body,” He tells them, “Which will be broken for you (Luke 22:19).” Jesus etches a clear picture in the disciples’ minds, drawing back from the memory of the day they saw Him work a marvelous miracle to feed a multitude.
When I get discouraged in my brokenness, I look to Jesus, the one who modeled excruciating pain on the cross in order to bless me. The cross, in fact, is where we get our word “exCRUCiating” from. Jesus was the ultimate model for us of being blessed, broken, and distributed to the world. Because of the physical breaking that He was willing to undergo, millions throughout history have been snatched from the clutches of darkness, shame, guilt, and destruction.
The miracle on the mountainside that day ended with a poignant scene. The disciples picked up the remainder of the food when everyone had eaten their full, and packed it up in baskets. There happened to be twelve baskets of food left-over—one for each of the disciples. It’s like Jesus was trying to tell them, and perhaps at the same time you and me, that when you allow Jesus to use your brokenness and distribute you to others for their benefit, you will always be fulfilled. In Christ, satisfaction, joy, purpose, and impact fills our “baskets" to the brim even in the moments we feel we can’t take one more breaking.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND JOURNALING:
What do you think it means for you that Jesus wants to bless you by breaking you? What benefits could come from this for you? For others?
What does it look like to remain in Jesus’ hands not just during the times of blessing but also in the times of brokenness?
PRAYER:
Lord, I know that in order to truly experience the miracle of impacting others, I must be willing to submit to your process of brokenness. I know that you have a perfect plan in turning this around to help others and to overflow my life. I choose to keep myself in your hands even if it means that in your sovereignty you choose to divide me further.
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