I’m not certain that I can adequately express all that is in my heart today, but the word “remnant” is bouncing all around in my soul.
So, here are some completely unorganized thoughts about the word remnant:
One: It looks weird. Literally, the longer you look at the word, the less it looks like it was spelled correctly.
Two: A remnant is typically defined as something small that nobody wanted. The piece of fabric that didn’t fit and couldn’t be used and got thrown away. There’s truth in that. But it can also mean “still remaining,” and there’s a word in that about faithfulness, too. God takes the throw-aways among us who haven’t stopped believing in Him and calls them his remnant.
Three: Remnant can also mean leftovers. Not in the sense of, “No, Mom! Not remnants again for supper!!” as much as in the sense of the pieces of bread that were left over after Jesus fed almost 20,000 people. There were leftover pieces of bread everywhere — a whole hillside of remnants.
Four: Remnants can only come through brokenness. Those leftover pieces of bread were what fell to the ground when the loaves of bread were broken and served. Have you been serving to the point of feeling broken? You qualify for the remnant. That may not feel like a good thing, but it is. Keep reading.
Five: When a bunch of remnant pieces come together, there’s more than there was to begin with. Look at John 6:12-13…
After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, “Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted.” So they picked up the pieces and filled twelve baskets with scraps left by the people who had eaten from the five barley loaves. (John 6:12-13 NLT, emphasis mine)
Did you catch that? They filled 12 baskets full of the remnants leftover from the 5 loaves they had started with. The Greek word used in those verses for “pieces” and “scraps” means remnants. What is God doing all over the world right now? He’s picking up the remnant pieces — the “scraps left by the people” — and He’s bringing them together as an army that is more powerful and more focused than the one many of us thought we had 2 years ago.
Six: A remnant is rising, and it’s rising with a purpose. What men see as crumbs, God sees as crucial. What men leave behind, God lifts up.
What men see as crumbs, God sees as crucial. Click To TweetSeven: “Gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted.” What do we do after a meal with all the crumbs on the floor? We vacuum them up. But not God. God picks up the broken pieces instead of vacuuming up the broken pieces. What man vacuums, God values. He wastes nothing.
All of that leads me to the obvious question: are we willing to be a part of that rising remnant? It will take courage and humility. But in the end, we’ll be in the Master’s hands ready to be used to nourish people beyond just one miraculous moment. Oh, that reminds me of one more observation.
Eight: Remnants last.
