Nothing Goes To Waste

 

My parents grew up during the Depression. As is true for most people from that era, they were savers and were loathe to let anything go to waste. I grew up learning those values and have continued them in my own life.

 

I think it’s interesting that the apostles were told to gather up all the fragments after Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes. If Jesus fed thousands of people with only a few loaves and fishes, surely he could do another miracle if others needed to be fed. But that wasn’t the way it was. Jesus thought it was important to not take anything that He provided for granted, that everything He provided should be of use to someone, that nothing should be wasted.

 

This same principle is true in our lives today. God has richly blessed each of us. He expects that nothing that He gives us should go to waste, that everything He provides should go not just for our own benefit but for the advancement of the kingdom. This is true for both our material and spiritual blessings.  Peter advises us, “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms” (1 Pet 4:10).

 

Resolve today to live in thankfulness and to be a good and faithful steward of all that God provides.