This passage suggests something that is counterintuitive to us. We believe that the more we save the more that we have. Yet this passage suggests that the more we share, the more we give away, the more God will provide for us.

We are reminded in this passage of God’s heart to provide for his people. A small boy knew that he had little to give, but felt led to do that anyway, and God blessed the offering of this child, and that small gift went on to bless thousands of people, in ways that small boy could have never imagined.

God’s provision does not always come to us in the most expected ways. The widow was asked to do a number of things that would seem to do nothing about he financial needs, but God used that to provide for her. We are called to obedience as stewards, to trust in God’s leading, and trust his provision.

Missionary Agshin Jafarov on Philemon 1

Agshin Jafarov speaks on Rev. 7:9-10 during Sunday School.

In spite of our own imperfect and sometimes poor efforts to share God’s good news, we see in Jonah that God will use our efforts to take his Good News. Despites Jonah’s unwillingness to follow God fully, God uses what Jonah has done to bless and change people’s lives.

When God calls us, it is often challenging, and pushes us beyond our comfort zones. We talk about the importance of grace being a free gift to all people. Yet Jonah has to confront the limits of this head on. Can we take the message of God’s grace to those that we don’t like? Can we carry God’s saving message to those we don’t want to see saved?

We are taught the importance of being self-sufficient, of relying in ourselves. Bookstores are filled with books about how we do it ourselves; find the power within, but scriptures teach us something quite different. We are made not to be a lone ranger, but part of a community. We learn in community, we grow in community, we are cared for in community.

Ecc 4:9-12, Gal 5:22-6:5

We live in a time of great uncertainty about our economy and jobs, etc. We are told scripturally that God looks out for and provides for his people. Yet often it happens in unexpected times and ways, and sometime we just miss it all together. God calls us to trust that He will provide for us, but we need to be obedient to His leading, even when he calls us in a new or different direction.

We live in world that focused on placing us in boxes. Is that good or bad? Is it right or left, in or out? In this passage we look at how to handle those who do immoral things. What do we do with those who do things we don’t agree with? Christ challenges us be careful with our judgment of those “different” than us.