Relying on Jesus to Feed Them

A crowd of thousands sought Jesus after He fed their bellies but were called to repentance. Today’s illegal immigrants need to also show repentance and greater productivity.

In Chapter 6 of his Good News, the apostle John wrote that a large crowd followed Jesus to see more of the great spectacle of healings. The Master realized they had come without food so He arranged for His students to feed them. Five small barley loaves and a couple fish fed several thousand people and filled twelve baskets with leftovers.

Jesus and His students returned to Capernaum and the crowd followed soon afterward. The Teacher accused them of not seeking after Him and His teachings but after more food for their bellies. He warned them to seek the spiritual food of God’s Word, which feeds for eternity.

Pattern Repeated by Crowds of Immigrants

In this YouTube video, Thomas Sowell explained that immigrants aren’t abstractions. They are people who do – or don’t – make their own success.

Today’s flood of illegal immigrants from other countries has been supplied with food, health care, Internet-linked phones, and many other costly goods. This wealth has come from a liberal government that promises continued bounty as long as it is in power. The immigrants come, seeking the material benefits of this rich nation with little regard for producing wealth for themselves.

How different from the immigrants of previous centuries. They brought skills and the desire to work in this land of opportunities. In previous centuries, the government did not give poor people subsistence incomes. People had to work hard, work smart, to produce things that others would buy. Otherwise, they died of starvation, disease, and crime.

Need for Changed Thinking and Hard Work

Jesus told His crowd to change their thinking, to stop looking to Him for food for the belly. He told them to look to Him for the work that produces eternal food.

Today’s immigrants need to change their thinking from relying on ungodly, unrealistic government leaders for material benefits. They must do the work for which God created them and rely on Him to give them eternal life. He will add the material benefits of Heaven. Having become prosperous, patriotic Americans, they can return to their home countries to spread the Good News of God’s Kingdom.

Questions

Do you know people who have come to our sovereign land illegally? Don’t despise them.

Seek to teach them our American ways and help them work their way to prosperity. Teach them the ways of God’s Kingdom. Then they can prosper and return to their native shores with the Good News.