Luke and the Lost

As a learner, I have attended many, many seminars, workshops and meetings over my lifetime. As I read this passage this morning, I am reminded of a pastor who had the opening message of a seminar I attended near Atlanta, Georgia. His words affirmed my thinking and articulated the core of what it means to be a leader of leaders who train others to be leaders. I have repeated these words many times in subsequent seminars where I was the trainer. This pastor’s words lines up with how Jesus trained and perfectly explains the “inside thinking” we must all have to be teachers and leaders of teachers and leaders who train teachers and leaders…and “the beat goes on”, so to speak. ; )

Here are those words, “I take more joy in seeing someone to do what I have been doing BETTER than the way I did it.” Read this slowly and carefully. Let it sink in. Say it over and over until you have you understand this same joy. Do not be afraid to let go of what you have been doing so that someone else can do what you did. Does that leave you without a work to do? Absolutely not,

God will always direct you to the next thing He intends for you to be and do. But most of all, our job is to grow others while growing ourselves. It is the exponential process of multiplying the blessings of God, of coming alongside someone for awhile and helping others find what God wants for them. Then it’s getting out of the way by moving on and letting someone train you…so you can train others.

If you are stuck or feel stuck, maybe the Holy Spirit is waiting for you to train someone else to do what you do better than the way you did it so you can move on to where you need to be next.

“You feed them, ” Jesus said. These words leap off the page this morning as I make a movie in my mind (as teachers tell kids) of this scenario. The Master Trainer sent The Twelve out to do what He does. The came back and gave their reported results. NOW, after watching crowds gather, the disciples tell Jesus, maybe we better see these people home so they can eat. Jesus says, “You feed them”. You solve the problem. I have prepared you for this moment. I’m still here to help you. But you figure it out.

They tried to physically scrape up some assets to feed them. Then Jesus helps to show them how to organize the crowd, present what you have to God and then watch what happens. Wow, another miracle of God’s amazing grace. What does this teach? You do your part, God will do His. You cannot do God’s part. And He expects you to be and do what He has put in you to be and do. Then all are blessed.

Whew, this passage gives us a lot to think about…you read it, see what comes to your mind. Share your thoughts, that would be amazingly awesome. I’m still growing, what about you?

Luke 9, The Message
Bread and Fish for Five Thousand
12 As the day declined, the Twelve said, “Dismiss the crowd so they can go to the farms or villages around here and get a room for the night and a bite to eat. We’re out in the middle of nowhere.”

13-14 “You feed them,” Jesus said.

They said, “We couldn’t scrape up more than five loaves of bread and a couple of fish—unless, of course, you want us to go to town ourselves and buy food for everybody.” (There were more than five thousand people in the crowd.)

14-17 But he went ahead and directed his disciples, “Sit them down in groups of about fifty.” They did what he said, and soon had everyone seated. He took the five loaves and two fish, lifted his face to heaven in prayer, blessed, broke, and gave the bread and fish to the disciples to hand out to the crowd. After the people had all eaten their fill, twelve baskets of leftovers were gathered up.

Imagine a door greeter who has been door greeter at your church for over 30 years. He is faithful. He is the best door greeter ever and people love to see his face. But did it ever occur to him to train someone else to do what he does and for him to take joy in seeing someone he trains do the job even better than the way he did it? Here is a better question for us to evaluate ourselves. Do we hold on too long to a work? Does the work define who we are? Yikes, we need to think this through, right?

Dear Heavenly Father, What you have entrusted to us is only for a little while, long enough for us to teach someone else to do it. Thank you for the opportunities you have place in my life to teach and pass on what you have taught me through the lives of others you placed in my life. Wow, that’s how you designed it to be because our lives are short, fleeting, mere wisps of time. Help us to always help others you put in our path. Continue to be with us.
In Jesus Name, Amen