• Home
  • About This Blog
  • Contact Me
  • Subscribe
  • Comment Policy

Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

  • Westminster Shorter Catechism Series
  • Sermon on the Mount Series
Home Bible Reflection On baskets, bread and the next generation

On baskets, bread and the next generation

Posted on June 27, 2012 Written by Mark McIntyre Leave a Comment


Bread
Image via freefoto.com

The disciples came to Jesus with a problem. Jesus had been followed by a large crowd, they were in the middle of the wilderness and the people were hungry.

The disciples understood the problem but did not have the means to provide and answer. They did not have sufficient perspective or understanding to anticipate the way that God wanted to work in the situation.

The story is recorded in Matthew 14:15-21 where we read that Jesus took five loaves of bread and two fish and multiplied them sufficiently to feed the entire crowd.

Like the disciples, we struggle to get the big picture and often respond within the limitations of our own experience. The danger for 21st Century church leaders is that we can depend on tried-and-true church forms and think them adequate to solve the problems we see. When they don’t work, we grumble about the Enemy or the hard hearts of the people to which we are reaching out. Yet, like in the feeding of the 5,000, perhaps God wants to work in a different way and we need to cease being an impediment to that work.

When the Barna group reports that 59% of young Christians leave the church, it is time to admit that we are doing something wrong. In my own experience I see that despite good preaching, despite youth retreats, despite frequent youth activities and despite Christian education, many kids have lukewarm connection with the church or have left it entirely. Too few are active and engaged following high school.

Perhaps we have been guilty of trying to manufacture the food ourselves rather than coming to Jesus to provide it. Perhaps we have gotten so caught up in the activities of the church we have lost touch with the central message of the Gospel. Maybe we have become so preoccupied with looking good rather than living well. Perhaps we have been so active that we have allowed distance to creep into our relationship with Jesus. Maybe we’ve been carrying around empty baskets.

All the disciples had to do was carry the baskets; Jesus provided the food. They had two things to do. They had to keep from spilling it and get it to the people. It was not complicated.

Are we carrying baskets full of spiritual food? Are we getting spiritual food to the people who are starving for it? The answer seems to be that we are not if so many are leaving the church.

Like the disciples carrying the baskets, we have two main jobs. We are to love God with our entire beings and love our neighbors as ourselves. One way to look at this is that the love of God is the food and our love of our neighbor is the reason why we carry the food to that neighbor.

I’m not sure of the entire answer to the problem of youth leaving the church, but I suspect that it involves getting our own hearts right before God. If we are indeed following the first great command to love God, then we will have something of value to impart to the next generation.

As Muddy Waters said, “you can’t spend what you ain’t got.”

What do you think? What is it that we need to do to reduce the numbers of youth leaving the church? Please comment below.


Filed Under: Bible Reflection Tagged With: Bible, Christianity, disciple, God, Jesus, Muddy Waters

About Mark McIntyre

A follower of Jesus Christ who shares observations about how Scripture should impact the church and the world. Mark is the original author and editor of Attempts at Honesty.

Follow Attempts at Honesty

Honesty in your Inbox

Standard Theme

A new theme for Attempts at Honesty Christian Blog

Because an increasing percentage of traffic is coming from mobile devices, it was necessary to find a theme that better responds to mobile users.

Messy Cow

Willing to get a little messy

Jesus was not afraid to be seen with people of bad reputation. He was not afraid to get a little messy to bring home those he came to save. The only person that Jesus sought to please was his Heavenly Father.

Love and the Cross

“Only love for Christ has the power to incapacitate the sturdy love for self that is the bane of every sinner, and only the grace of Christ has the power to produce that love” – Paul David Tripp Tripp goes on to point out that death of self is a prerequisite to fulling loving Christ. Jesus […]

Jean Valjean

Branded by Grace: a reaction to Les Miserables

In the recently released movie, Les Misérables, two characters were touched by Grace and were not the same as a result. It was almost as though God put a brand upon them. They were branded by Grace.

From God to Us

Book Review: From God to Us by Geisler and Nix

This post is a review of the book, From God to Us by Geisler and Nix. A work that should be on the shelves of any serious Bible student.

Post Series

  • Westminster Shorter Catechism Series
  • Sermon on the Mount Series

Categories

Archives

Blogger Grid
Follow me on Blogarama

Copyright © 2022 · Focus Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in