So Much Owed So Few

Scripture References: 1 Samuel 14:1, 6; Mark 3:13-15

Stealth fighters comprised just 2.5 percent of the aircraft in the Persian Gulf War. Yet, on the first day of the air war, they flew 31 percent of the sorties, obliterating Iraqi air defenses. The reason? Stealth pilots could evade Iraqi radar, seek their targets, drop their bombs, and escape scot-free. When Iraqi antiaircraft fire streaked the sky full of tracers, they shot at the stars; the Stealth bombers had long since left the drop zone.

When Jesus wanted to assure a witness of himself after he returned to God, he recruited a few good men. In his three years with them he invited them to study him, knowing they needed to see in him what he wanted them to be. And what an education the doctor of eternal studies gave his students! He also sent them on preaching tours, giving them field experience, letting them teach others what they had learned from him. When they preached or healed, they enjoyed his success, proving themselves even then mere extensions of his glory and authority.

By the time Christ died, the disciples still lacked the profile of the great apostles, but the Master had in place his chosen few. When the Holy Spirit fell on them at Pentecost, he finished the education Jesus’ own ministry had carefully advanced. In the lives of those men Jesus multiplied his grace to spiritually feed millions in every age.

Courtesy of Speaker’s Sourcebook of New Illustrations by Virgil Hurley © 1995 by Word, Incorporated.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.