Do you have “5 loaves and 2 fish”?

by | Jun 30, 2024 | Joseph Li Jie, • Timely Word •

Do you have “5 loaves and 2 fish”?

The Gospel of John documents numerous miracles performed by Jesus during His time on Earth. Through studying this Gospel in both Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) and Sunday services, I have gained a deeper understanding of these miracles and their significance in my life.​

One particularly notable miracle is Jesus feeding five thousand people with just five loaves and two fish. This story offers valuable lessons through its characters:​

Philip and Simon​

Despite witnessing many of Jesus’ miracles, Philip and Simon focused much on their limitations—lack of resources and money, insufficient food rather than depends on His power. They had not yet internalized that Jesus is omnipotent.​

The crowd​

The people in the crowd may have brought food or money, but none, except the young boy, were willing to contribute. They followed Jesus for the miracles and personal benefit but were not willing to collaborate with Him.​

The young boy​

The scripture briefly mentions the young boy who offered the five loaves and two fish. It is intriguing to consider why he would contribute his food, knowing it was insufficient for the crowd. Perhaps he believed in Jesus’ power to multiply it.​

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Often, we are like the disciples, fixating on our limitations when we face difficult situations or are assigned for certain duties—“I’m too busy,” “I’m not capable,” “I lack knowledge.” We always want to depend on our own strength, but forget that God can help us overcome these challenges if we are willing to contribute and work together with Him. ​

We call ourselves followers of Jesus. So are we willing to contribute our limited talents and work with Him for the Kingdom work, or, like the crowd, do we only seek benefits from Him and treat Him like a vending machine?​

Let us learn from the young boy; even if we lack time, capability, or knowledge, we should trust that Jesus can multiply our efforts for great works and miracles.​

Brothers and sisters, you may have only five loaves and two fish, but are you willing to offer them and trust that God can use them to achieve the extraordinary?​

By brother Li Jie​

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Turn your eyes upon Jesus

by | May 27, 2022 | Joseph Li Jie, • Timely Word •

When I was a new believer, I always struggled to really put my focus on Jesus. My mind tended to wander, and my sight tended to focus too much on the challenges I faced in my daily life, and I tried to use my own strength to solve them. In the end, the situation usually became worse, and I became more stressed. After being a Christian for many years, I slowly learned that if we focus our eyes on Jesus rather than the issue we face, the results can be different.

We usually use “busy” or “no time” as excuses to excuse ourselves from being close to God. On the other hand, we focus most of time on worldly things. We are too busy with our lives.

Focus your sight right 

And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” – Matthew 14:28-30 (ESV)

When Peter wanted to be like Jesus to walk on the water, he bravely took the first faithful step. However, his eyes focused on the wind and he was afraid, so he began to sink. When we come across a challenging situation, we usually, like Peter, focus our eyes on the problem itself and get frightened about it or stress over it. However, the one thing Peter did right was to cry for help from Jesus – “Lord, save me…”. Jesus immediately reached out and caught him, and Peter was saved. When we face the challenges in our life, Jesus is never far away from us, he is just at “a prayer” distance and waiting for you to cry out to him.

Set your priorities right 

“Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.” – Matthew 13:7 (ESV)

Each of us has our own priorities in life, even we do not purposely list them out, they are reflected in the way we settle our daily tasks. In this world, there are many “thorns” which can choke us by getting our attention away from God – such as our social engagements, our children’s tuition classes, our mobile phones (messages, social media, and so on).

Because these “thorns” are so strong, and they are always in the top of our priority list, God is usually at the bottom of our priority list. We usually pray to God when we need something; we only read God’s Word when we are free; we only do devotions when we are not so tired and remember to do it. So even though we come to church every Sunday and hear God’s Word, our growth can be very limited as our priorities are set on those “thorns” rather than spending time with God.

Being a Christian is never easy, even when we keep on reminding ourselves that God is the centre of our life, the “old self” always wants to return and pull us back. However, Jesus has given us a solution – “…but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26). Let us turn our eyes upon Jesus!

By brother Joseph Li Jie 

He works all things for the good

by | Jul 11, 2021 | Joseph Li Jie, • Timely Word •

Although my study of the book of Genesis has been completed in my bible study fellowship, I am still amazed by the stories I learned. Just like most of the BSF members, my initial understanding of Genesis was that it is mainly about God’s creation of everything. But after studying it, I realized that the creation story is only described in the first three chapters. There are many more lessons I can learn and apply to my daily life, even from stories that happened thousands of years ago.

One key thing I observed from the study is that God can always turn bad things into good. For example, Jacob cheated Esau and stole the firstborn blessing from Isaac, which led to Jacob’s later suffering of leaving his home and laboring for Laban for 14 years. However, during this journey, Jacob encountered God many times, and when he returned to Canaan, God has already blessed him with many children and countless livestock. His blessing was much more than his suffering.

We can observe the same thing from Joseph’s life. Joseph was the favorite son of Jacob, he must have lived a very comfortable life. However, he was sold by his brothers to Egypt as a slave. No families around, no proper food, no proper shelter, laboring day by day. Even when his situation became slightly better (becoming the chief steward in Potiphar’s house), he then went to jail because of false accusations. When he was in jail, although there was a chance he could get out earlier,  he was forgotten by the cupbearer.

So how did God make all things good? We can see, from those experiences, Joseph learned the etiquette of the Egyptians and God also gave him the ability of dream interpretation. And all these made him the second-in-command in Egypt. And this was not the end, because of Joseph’s strategy, God’s people were saved from the global famine and Joseph also reunited with his family.

At the end of Genesis, Joseph’s words summarized this point:

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” (Genesis 5:20, NIV)

Romans 8:28 (NIV) says “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

In our current situation, with the COVID-19 pandemic having swept the whole world, many people have lost their jobs, their loved ones, or even their lives. Panic and fear fills everyone’s hearts; all kinds of restrictions bring many inconveniences to our lives. But as Christians, let us not lose Hope but believe that “in all things, God works for the good”. No matter what happens, let us depend on our Lord Jesus and continue to follow Him.

 By brother Joseph Li Jie

Who Has Gone the Extra Mile for Your Faith In Christ?

by | Jul 12, 2020 | Joseph Li Jie, • Timely Word •

When a person has just received Christ, no matter the circumstances, their faith may not be so firmly rooted. In the bible, Jesus mentions in the Parable of the Sower that there are many distractions and temptations; such as suffering, worldly cares, and deceitfulness of riches; to pull people away from the Christian faith (Matthew 13:1-23). Even if seeds are sown in good soil, there must be good gardeners to diligently nurture them for the seeds to grow, bear fruit, and multiply.

Over the past few months, I joined BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) regularly for their Zoom discussions. The focus of the study was on the book of Acts; through the study and discussions, I got some new insights of this book, especially on the apostle Paul’s missionary journeys. After studying the three mission trips of Paul, I noticed that Paul had the practice of returning to     the places he had preached at in the past; to revisit the new believers and strengthen their faith  in  Christ.  Paul deeply understood that there were many other anti-Christian influences which would persecute these “lambs left behind among the wolves”. So even though revisiting  those places may have caused him much inconvenience and even endangered his life, he still went the extra mile for those new believers.  (Refer to  the  map  of  Paul’s  first missionary journey together with Barnabas – it was easier for them to return to Antioch in Syria from  Derbe  through  the imperial highway,  however,  the two missionaries made a U-turn and revisited the places they had passed).

Reflecting on my own Christian journey, there were many people who went many extra miles to help fortify my faith. The mentors in Charis fellowship were very devoted in taking care of the mentees not only in our faith, but also in our daily lives. They are the ones who led us to faith in Christ, and slowly built our faith through their love for us. We like to call our mentors “man tou”（馒头), which mean steamed bun in Chinese. Like man tou which is a staple diet for many Chinese,  they are essentials in our life. Their love for us not only warmed our hearts, but also gave us a glimpse of God’s love and encouraged us to pass this love to other new believers, and to go the extra mile for them.

By Brother Joseph Li Jie (YCKC Bulletin 12 July 2020)