Messing Up

Philip answered Him, Two hundred pennies' (forty dollars) worth of bread is not enough that everyone may receive even a little.  John 6:7

Then Jesus called His disciples to Him and said, I have pity and sympathy and am deeply moved for the crowd, because they have been with Me now three days and they have nothing [at all left] to eat; and I am not willing to send them away hungry, lest they faint or become exhausted on the way. And the disciples said to Him, Where are we to get bread sufficient to feed so great a crowd in this isolated and desert place? Matthew 15:32-33

The first response of the disciples was to doubt that they could help. Not only did they doubt, they even mocked Jesus a little: “forty dollars won’t even begin to meet the need.” They even doubted and mocked Jesus a second time, after they had already seen a miraculous production of food.

Jesus said to him, Solemnly I declare to you, this very night, before a single rooster crows, you will deny and disown Me three times. Matthew 26:34

And sure enough, Peter denied Jesus three times that night. The other disciples also fled Jesus in a time of His need.

Then [His disciples], forsaking Him, fled, all [of them]. Mark 14:50

Now, let me ask you a question, what was different between the Disciples, who doubted, mocked, denied, and forsook Jesus and the rest of Israel who doubted, mocked, denied, and forsook Jesus? Jesus clearly said that if we deny Him before men, He will deny us before the Father, Matthew 10:33. But yet, the Disciples were allowed to doubt, deny, mock, and forsake Jesus and still receive the promise of the Holy Spirit. Yet the rest of Israel, who did the same things, were not, why?

Now this is the really cool part, because this Truth will blow religion away. The Disciples were simply rewarded in spite of themselves, because they were chosen of God to serve. The same reason that we can doubt, question, deny, and mock Jesus and not be separated from Him and still receive all of the blessings that come along with being chosen to serve. Religion tries to tell us that we are in control and that if we obey, then we receive a blessing and if we don’t obey, there is a curse for us. But yet we see that Peter did not obey and even denied and lied, and yet he was rewarded. We see that the Disciples doubted and mocked and yet they received a surplus of food. They all received simply because they were God’s chosen vessels. Now admit it, we all have questioned, doubted, mocked, forsook, and denied our Lord, even after we were saved! And praise God, He never left us for one moment and He never forsook us!