» God's Multiplication Lesson God's Multiplication Lesson
"...You give them something to eat." They answered, "We have only five loaves of bread and two fish--unless we go and buy food for all this crowd." Luke 9:13 As a teacher of second graders, I find that many of my students state what they are thinking without any hesitation. This is good because then I know how to help them. Recently one of my new second graders came up to me almost in tears telling me that she does not know how to do times (multiplication). This poor child thought that she was not prepared for second grade. Relief came to her face when I explained to her that we introduce multiplication after Christmas. When the disciples were out in the desert with Christ, they probably were feeling like this little second grader. God told them to feed all the people. The disciples' reply was "We have only five loaves of bread and two fish." In Luke 9, we discover that through Christ the disciples had enough food to feed a multitude and still had leftovers. Many times I find myself stating the words of my student and the disciples. It is easy to think that we do not have talents, skills, or materials to complete what God has called us to do. When I was working with children on a mission trip in Haiti, I was struggling with those very thoughts. There was a language barrier, and we had only one translator. As I was playing with the children, I wanted to teach them about Jesus. Having taken one year of French in high school was something like having five loaves and two fish. My French teacher would probably say it was worse. I managed to recall a few words and a bit of sign language to teach the children the chorus of "Yes, Jesus loves me." After a few runs by myself, the children were joining me in sign and song. As I said my final good-bye to these children, many of them started to sign to me, "Yes, Jesus loves me." God took my little knowledge of French and sign language and multiplied it! Let's use what we have and leave the multiplication up to God. "They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over." Luke 9:17
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