3 Important Lessons From The Story Of The Five Loaves And Two Fishes In The Bible

The gospel of Matthew in the Bible tells us of a beautiful story of how Jesus miraculously fed 5,000 men with five loaves of bread and two fish.

Matthew 14:13-21 says, “When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.”

15 “As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”

16 Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

17 “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.

18 “Bring them here to me,” he said. 19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were leftover. 21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Here are some of the lessons we can learn from this gospel:

1) Seek first the kingdom of God

The zeal of the people to hear from Jesus is so inspiring, as we see that they followed Jesus from one place to another just to listen to God’s word. The Bible says in Matthew 6:33 “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

These five thousand men decided to seek Jesus first, getting out of their comfort zone to hear the word that will bring salvation and healing to their life. But not only that, when they received the word, other things were added unto them as well. When we seek after Him, everything about our lives will fall into places.

He will take care of all our needs both spiritually and physically. Jesus will not let you down, for with Him all things are possible. Make a decision today to seek and follow Jesus, your life will never remain the same.

2). In God you will find your spiritual and physical blessing

In God, we receive spiritual blessing through the word that He speaks to us. John 6:63- 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit[a] and life. This verse helps us understand that our spirit is alive through the word of God. The words that He speaks to us bring life to our spirit.

The word of God is our spiritual food, it strengthens us, and gives us the ability to do His will in our lives. This does not end here, as we are fed spiritually, we also receive the physical blessing of healing and our needs are fulfilled. The Bible says in Philippians 4:19 “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” This verse is talking about our physical needs.

This was demonstrated in verse 16 of Matthew 14 when Jesus said “You give them something to eat.” Jesus’ disciples wanted Him to send the people away because it was too late so that they can go and find something to eat. But He had compassion on them and tell His disciples to give them something to eat. This shows us that Jesus wants to bless us both spiritually and physically also. He thinks for us more than we can think for ourselves and will always make provisions for our needs.

3) What you have is what you need

Most often in our lives, when God wants us to do something large, we start looking at the limited resources that we have. This is what happened when Jesus told His disciple to give them something to eat. Their response was that we have only five loaves of bread and two fishes only, how can we feed 5,000 people with such a little quantity of food? But what they had is what Jesus needed from them. He did not need much to feed the crowd. He needed their faith in Him and the little that they had.