Nothing is wasted

(devotional given at Harvest of Hope high school gleaning mission trip at Camp Occohannock, Eastern Shore, Virginia)

Today we're going to read the second part of the feeding of the 5000 story that we started on Tuesday morning.

John 6:12-14 (The Message) - 'When the people had eaten their fill, he said to his disciples, "Gather the leftovers so nothing is wasted." They went to work and filled twelve large baskets with leftovers from the five barley loaves. The people realized that God was at work among them in what Jesus had just done.'

Don't you just love that last part? As followers of Jesus Christ, as Christians, which literally means "little Christs," as we live as His ambassadors in the world, God is at work among us. He's been at work among us this week!

So in our passage today we see again that Jesus provided enough so that each person present ate their fill. Then He told His helpers to gather the leftovers, much as we've been doing after our meals here. I wonder what the disciples thought of that? When they looked around, what did they see? Scraps, torn pieces of bread, fish skin and scales, a random assortment of bits and pieces. I wonder if all of them even saw the leftovers.

Why did Jesus tell them to gather the leftovers? So that nothing would be wasted. In the economy of God's Kingdom, nothing is wasted.

There are two aspects of this I'd like for us to think about.

Firstly, God's intention is that nothing is wasted in your life. Romans 8:28 (The Message) says that "we can be ... sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good." Nothing is wasted. He makes something beautiful out of the scraps and torn pieces of our lives. When we think about ourselves, our bodies, our minds, our personalities, our abilities, our experiences, our relationships, our opportunities, we may value some things and not others. We may wish we could edit our histories and throw out the bits we don't like. We may wish we could trade some aspect of our lives for what we perceive as something better. But God looks at us, and He has a way of seeing every part of us at once, and He says, "Wonderful!" He takes us in our entirety, the bits we like and the bits we don't, and makes something incredibly beautiful that reflects His glory and His love. Nothing is wasted.

Secondly, God desires that nothing is wasted in anyone else's life either.

We've been learning this week how wasteful it is to throw away food. We've been intentional about not wasting produce by gleaning potatoes.

Who is it that we consider leftover? Who do we just pass by or even throw away, because we don't consider them to be useful enough or valuable enough or pretty enough or cool enough or smart enough or rich enough or important enough? Like in the story of the Good Samaritan, who do we pretend not to notice? It might be someone we know, someone we don't know, an ethnic group, an economic group, a friend, an enemy, a neighbor, a nation. Ask God who it is that He wants you to gather. When I was out in the field this week, some of the potatoes were partially hidden. I had to dig around those a little to get them out of the dirt. Some were still attached to stalks. I had to gently help them break free. A few were just sitting on top of the ground in full view, as though they were waiting to be discovered. And every now and then, someone would spot a treasure trove of potatoes clustered together that were easier to harvest.

God has created each person on the planet in His image. Each person, whether we consider them good or not-so-good, whole, bruised, damaged, or leftovers, perfectly bears the image of God. But each person imperfectly reflects the likeness of Jesus Christ, some more imperfectly than others! God doesn't ask us to grade people the way markets grade potatoes. Grading of potatoes and other produce is one of the reasons so much food is wasted. It's not our job to grade people by judging who is worthwhile paying attention to and who isn't, in essence declaring them a waste of time or energy. Jesus' desire is that no one's life is wasted. He asks us to get out into the harvest field and glean. Some people are hidden, and we need to go out and find them, and speak life into them. Some are tied up in hurts, habits, or hangups and may need help breaking free. Some are out in the open, seeking life and truth, and just waiting for someone to show them the way. Every now and then, God moves in an unusual way among a whole group of people at once, like what's happening today in China where thousands of people are giving their lives to Jesus every day.

What harvest field is God inviting you to gather in? He doesn't want even a single life wasted. Each life is precious to Him! Your life is precious to Him. The life of every person on the planet is precious to Him. God's heart is that nothing is wasted in your life or in the life of anyone else.

I want to close by speaking a blessing over you.

May you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence. May you live in the place of rest as you abide in Jesus day by day, hour by hour, breath by breath. May God give you such an overflow of His love that it spills out of you onto everyone you encounter. May the Lord give you direction, wisdom, and energy to gather the leftovers - those who are hidden, those who need help breaking free from hurts, habits, or hangups, those who are seeking life and truth, those whom God highlights to you, whether you easily consider them beautiful or whether they are the last, the lost, or the least. Go with God! The harvest is plentiful! May we each live our lives wholeheartedly to the greater glory of God, in the love of the Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, and in the power of the Holy Spirit!