From What Is to What If
In life and the kingdom of God, there are two equal realities, the reality of “what is” and the reality of “what if”. We are all familiar with the “what is”. It is what we know, what we are comfortable with and the tangible reality that we experience in the now. We are less familiar with “what if”… the potential for what could be and the hope for what will be. Because the gospel is all about transformation, we should always be people who are moving from the “what is” to the “what if.” Life following Jesus is a constant challenge, with the power of heaven behind us, to live abundantly in the “what if”. No matter where we are in our journey of faith, there is always a “what if”. I believe that because God is perpetually making things new in heaven, even when we are there, we will still be thinking creatively and innovatively as we move to greater levels of “what if”.
The question I want to pose, though, is how do we move from “what is” to “what if”? While fully moving requires the guidance of the Holy Spirit, I believe that there are some steps we can take responsibility for in getting there. In scripture, perhaps the story that demonstrates this movement the most is the story of the 5000. The “what is” is that there are well over 5,000 people who, after spending the day with Jesus, were very hungry. The “what is” reality is that there was no food to feed them. The “what if” challenge was how on earth enough food was going to be given to these hungry people. As we read through the story in John 6, we see that five distinct movements take us from “what is” to “what if.”
1) Want “What If”! (Matthew 14:15)
While it goes without saying, the fact that many of us are so stayed means that it worth saying. If we want to move toward the dreams of God, we must want them. In Matthew’s telling of this story (14:15), we read that the disciples desired to send the hungry away so that they could take care of themselves. They didn’t want the responsibility, and they didn’t want to expend the energy it would take to meet their needs. If they had sent the crowds away, over the years, millions of people would have missed out on experiencing and hearing this miracle-working story. So, what about you? Do you want all that Jesus has for you? Are you content with where you are, or do you want the abundance that God offers to you?
2) Ask Difficult Questions.
In response to the need, Jesus asks a difficult question of Philip, “How are we going to feed them?” Phillip doesn’t have an answer, but there is something significant in asking the question. We can never answer a question unless it is first asked. When questions are asked, our thinking is stimulated, creativity is released, and innovation can emerge. Let me ask you… Who asks you challenging questions that you don’t have an answer to? We all need to be asked tough questions, even if we don’t have the answers initially.
3) See what you’ve got and surrender it to Jesus.
The young boy didn’t have much in terms of either quantity or quality. (Josephus said that Barley Bread was “too vile for human consumption”!) But the power of the miracle doesn’t rest in what the boy had; it begins with his willingness to surrender it. When Jesus shared the story of the poor widow whose little gift was so valuable to God because it was all she had, it tells us that a little is worth far more than a lot within the kingdom if we want to explore “what if,” there is always something that we need to surrender.
4) Ask God to bless what you give to Him
In this story, before Jesus distributed the food, he asked God to bless it. It is at this stage in the process that God intervenes exponentially and accomplishes what we could never do in our power. The reality is that we cannot attain God-sized ‘what ifs’ on our own. To get there, we need the power of God to do something. When we invest in the Kingdom of God, God will always take care of our needs for His glory.
5) Prepare to celebrate the “New What is”.
Notice how, at the end of the story, Jesus sends the disciples to fill baskets with the leftovers. Can you imagine the joy on the disciples’ faces as they pick up basket after basket of scraps? It would have been a defining moment that would have heralded the beginning of a new “what is”.
We need to let “What Is” become “What was” as we move towards “What if”.,
The question I want to pose, though, is how do we move from “what is” to “what if”? While fully moving requires the guidance of the Holy Spirit, I believe that there are some steps we can take responsibility for in getting there. In scripture, perhaps the story that demonstrates this movement the most is the story of the 5000. The “what is” is that there are well over 5,000 people who, after spending the day with Jesus, were very hungry. The “what is” reality is that there was no food to feed them. The “what if” challenge was how on earth enough food was going to be given to these hungry people. As we read through the story in John 6, we see that five distinct movements take us from “what is” to “what if.”
1) Want “What If”! (Matthew 14:15)
While it goes without saying, the fact that many of us are so stayed means that it worth saying. If we want to move toward the dreams of God, we must want them. In Matthew’s telling of this story (14:15), we read that the disciples desired to send the hungry away so that they could take care of themselves. They didn’t want the responsibility, and they didn’t want to expend the energy it would take to meet their needs. If they had sent the crowds away, over the years, millions of people would have missed out on experiencing and hearing this miracle-working story. So, what about you? Do you want all that Jesus has for you? Are you content with where you are, or do you want the abundance that God offers to you?
2) Ask Difficult Questions.
In response to the need, Jesus asks a difficult question of Philip, “How are we going to feed them?” Phillip doesn’t have an answer, but there is something significant in asking the question. We can never answer a question unless it is first asked. When questions are asked, our thinking is stimulated, creativity is released, and innovation can emerge. Let me ask you… Who asks you challenging questions that you don’t have an answer to? We all need to be asked tough questions, even if we don’t have the answers initially.
3) See what you’ve got and surrender it to Jesus.
The young boy didn’t have much in terms of either quantity or quality. (Josephus said that Barley Bread was “too vile for human consumption”!) But the power of the miracle doesn’t rest in what the boy had; it begins with his willingness to surrender it. When Jesus shared the story of the poor widow whose little gift was so valuable to God because it was all she had, it tells us that a little is worth far more than a lot within the kingdom if we want to explore “what if,” there is always something that we need to surrender.
4) Ask God to bless what you give to Him
In this story, before Jesus distributed the food, he asked God to bless it. It is at this stage in the process that God intervenes exponentially and accomplishes what we could never do in our power. The reality is that we cannot attain God-sized ‘what ifs’ on our own. To get there, we need the power of God to do something. When we invest in the Kingdom of God, God will always take care of our needs for His glory.
5) Prepare to celebrate the “New What is”.
Notice how, at the end of the story, Jesus sends the disciples to fill baskets with the leftovers. Can you imagine the joy on the disciples’ faces as they pick up basket after basket of scraps? It would have been a defining moment that would have heralded the beginning of a new “what is”.
We need to let “What Is” become “What was” as we move towards “What if”.,
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