Changing other lives will change your life. It's not just the shortest route to contentment, it's the only route to contentment. Every other path will leave you dissatisfied, always sure you're missing something. When God made us, it was to have the same outward focus He does; the same need to give and tend He does. That's what Jesus meant when He said "any man who loses his life for My sake will find it." Not sure where to start? Try this...

 

 "You feed them."

 

      If we're not paying close attention, we miss those words from Jesus. That's because we're so enamored with the five loaves/two fish miracle that we slip right by what Jesus says.

 

      A huge crowd had gathered in a remote area near a lake for one reason only: to see and hear Jesus. As the day wore on, the disciples started getting nervous and began to press Jesus to call the session to a close. "Send them away," the disciples said, "so they can find themselves something to eat."

 "You feed them," was Jesus' reply.

 

     Not too long after that, Jesus did it again in an episode that still confounds savvy marketing and corporate strategists. Sitting by the sea cooking fish in the days after His resurrection, Jesus looked at His tiny band of dispirited disciples and told them He was leaving. They must have dropped their jaws at that news. How could He leave now? Didn't Jesus realize just how hungry people would be to hear the Messiah was alive?

 

      "You feed them," was the answer they would get from Jesus.

 

      He's using those same words today. Whether you're a janitor in Jakarta or a CEO in Cleveland, you have exactly the same assignment in the kingdom of God. Feed His sheep. Literally and figuratively.

 Millions of workers without the hope of Christ in their heart. Millions of people without enough food to stay alive. Millions of children without health care. Millions of workers being viewed as interchangeable parts in a mechanized march to prosperity instead of being seen (and treated) as individual bearers of the image of God. Thousands of bosses being badgered and belittled by workers too concerned with themselves to care about a greater good.

 

      In the middle of such great need, we Christians stand and cry out to Jesus to solve these problems, and His answer puzzles and haunts us as it echoes down through time with the consistency of a God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

 

      "You feed them," He says, meaning it literally and spiritually.

 

      Our answer surely doesn't surprise Him. "We don't have enough ________." Not enough what? Time, money, compassion, energy?

 

      We're wrong. No worker lacks the resources. No church or ministry lacks the resources, either. When Jesus tells us to feed His children, He already knows what we have at our disposal, and He will bless those five loaves and two fishes until the work He gives us is accomplished.

 

      What we lack is faith and vision, the ability to see that God decided a long time ago to let us do the labor. Beginning this day, even as we pray for those in need around us, listen to what God says in those quiet moments with Him: "You feed them."