Shepherd Daily Devotional – Your gift matters!

Written By Ben Dankaka

Meditation – John 6:2

One day, Jesus travelled to the Sea of Tiberias, along with His disciples. This was shortly after he had been to many villages, preaching the good news. He probably had wanted to have a quiet time with His disciples. But a great crowd of five thousand people followed Him. These people had left their homes and businesses to follow Jesus. Although Jesus didn’t invite any of them, they followed him, all the way to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee. Clearly, the people took a huge risk. Some of them might have followed Jesus on foot. Probably, they had walked along the road with empty stomachs. But why would such a huge crowd of people, leave their villages and follow Jesus to a deserted place. According to the scriptures, the people had followed Jesus “because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick” (John 6:2).

To become a person of influence, you must, first of all, do something that others would consider as great or remarkable. If you are going to be a great leader, you would have to commit yourself to doing something that is of great value to others. People aren’t going to follow you because they like your face. They would only follow you because they like what you can offer. The thousands of people that followed Jesus weren’t really interested in Jesus. They were mainly concerned with the miracles that He performed. What they really wanted wasn’t Jesus but what He could do – the miracles. What do you carry inside of you? What can you do that will be of great value to others? Your ability to discover your unique gifts, and then offer it to others will determine how relevant you would be to your generation. Focus on your gifts!

Prayer: Dear Jesus, show me how to develop my unique gifts. Amen.

REFERENCES/FURTHER STUDY: John 6:1-2

Unless otherwise stated all scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version.