It indeed is hard to renounce our faith in the static and fixed nature of the created world. You don’t have to look far to find a man who will say, “There are only so many fish in the sea.” Or, “a loaf of bread can only be cut into so many slices.” But the next time you bake that salmon, or the next time you place that sourdough on the cutting board, call to mind that you live in a world where five thousand men, and their households, can be fed from five loaves and two fish. Not to mention, after everyone has eaten their fill, you could take home twelve baskets full of leftovers.

Creation is not a closed system. There is something beyond creation. That something beyond creation is called the Triune God and he has not left his creation to fend for itself. We must shake off this way of thinking. It was the very error the disciples made, “Send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves food” (Matthew 14:15). But Jesus said, “They need not depart.” 

As you hear every week, you must come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ. But as you examine yourself and discover that you only have five loaves and two fish worth of faith (or for the great ones among us, you have seven loaves and three fish of faith), whatever the size of your faith, the message is not, “Go off into the villages and fend for yourself, and be quick about getting more faith, there is only so much it in the world. No, Scripture says, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). Here is the Word made flesh. You come to eat the Word. And this Word is food for your faith. So come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ.