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Bits & Pieces (8/16/12)

  • Praying for Your Straying Soul – “The soul is always in motion. If you think yours is motionless, you are probably floating downstream. Daily the soul is lured to other treasures, other satisfactions, other rewards besides Jesus and his way. Jesus taught us to pray daily, ‘forgive us for these wanderings and lead us not into, but out of, them.’”


  • White Evangelicals & Social Media – “A recent survey suggests that white evangelical Protestants are ‘significantly more likely than other major religious groups to use technology for religious purposes.'”  (H/T)


  • Encouragement from Predestination – We don’t normally think of encouragement and predestination as two words that go together, but this post gives us five reasons why our election as Christians should encourage our hearts. There are too many rich tidbits to quote here, so go ahead and read the whole thing for yourself. (H/T)


  • What Do You Have to Be Proud Of? – “It seems like the Corinthians forgot a very important principle: If we have something, it means someone gave it to us.”


  • Do Good in This World By Loving the Next – “Within the creative tension of restlessness and patience, as the Christian leans forward toward God’s eternal future, the actual result is productive engagement in the world and spiritual transformation within.”

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Hope Purpose

What We Bring

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©iStockphoto.com/zeelee

In the familiar story of Jesus feeding the five thousand, we naturally tend to gravitate towards the part where five loaves and a few fish are miraculously multiplied to feed an entire crowd. It is understandable that we focus on the end of the story as it the point at which the crowd begins to recognize Who Jesus is. We are rightly in awe of the power that is displayed, as well as the care that the Savior exemplified for those that sought His presence.

What we don’t tend to spend much time thinking about are the events that led up to the miraculous multiplication. Andrew identifies a boy in the audience who had a small lunch. Not knowing what Jesus could do with it, Andrew takes it to Him. Reading the narrative in John one almost gets the impression that Andrew himself wasn’t certain what the point of the offering was. He knew it was insufficient to meet the need. However, he also knew that it was all they had. He brought it to the one Person who could do something with it. He didn’t know what the outcome would be, but he brought what he had anyway.

I imagine that there was some internal debate in Andrew’s head as he contemplated whether the small lunch was even worth mentioning. I suppose that the other disciples looked on with amazement at Andrew’s utter lack of appreciation for the magnitude of the situation. And I know that often times when we are faced with difficulties, a similar circumstance emerges. We know that what we have doesn’t amount to the need that exists. We wonder whether the people around us will look at us with ridicule as we offer what little we can bring for the sake of the Kingdom. We are well aware of the insufficiency of our gifts, but nevertheless we bring it to the One who not only can multiple loves and fish, but Who uses the “chief among sinners” for the purposes of His Kingdom.

So instead of trying to accumulate more – more talents, more resources, more substance – before we offer ourselves to the King, we would do well to follow the example of Andrew and bring what we have. It may be meager, but thankfully God specializes in transforming the insignificant into something substantial.

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