Was it enough?
When we ask, “Did we do enough?” Jesus answers with his all-sufficiency
Stepping out of ministry in Japan has evoked a variety of thoughts and feelings in us. Since our return to the US on July 13, 2024, one of the nagging questions we frequently find ourselves asking is “Did we do enough?”
Did we share Jesus’s love enough? Did we pray enough? Did we explain the gospel clearly enough? Did we engage in spiritual conversations enough?
If you have ever asked yourselves questions like these—wondering if you have done enough of this or that—you well know the guilt that quickly rises! No answer to any of these questions is good enough.
God so kindly led me to recall the story of the five loaves and two fish in the feeding of the 5,000. Here was a boy who gave his small lunch to Jesus. Was it enough? Of course not! When 5,000 men (plus women and children) are hungry, no one really could have even expected that it would be enough! That wasn’t the point. Not even 1,000 loaves would have been enough! But the boy gave all he had to Jesus, and Jesus was the one who made the lunch enough for all who were hungry. And as we all know, there were leftovers—twelve baskets full!
And speaking of the boy, I realized that in three out of the four gospel stories of this incident, the boy is not even referred to at all! It is all about Jesus and how he took a lunch and multiplied it so that each person in the hungry crowd was satisfied to the full.
Maybe we are asking the wrong questions. Obviously, it’s not about the boy or his lunch after all. Nor is it about me, the missionary. And the little lunch we brought to Jesus was sadly pitiful and definitely not even close to being enough. But when Jesus takes it, blesses it, and multiplies it for his purposes and for the praise of his glorious name, it is simply amazing what he can accomplish!
Let’s celebrate the all-sufficiency of our precious Lord Jesus! He has been, is, and always will be, enough. And he will continue to carry on the good work he has begun in Japan!