Tag Archive for ‘God’ at Serving Bread

Tag Archive for 'God'

Why do bad things happen to good people?

Published

on February 19, 2008

. 3 Comments

Thanks for visiting my blog, Serving Bread. Here you'll read stories, insights, reflections and ramblings from a campus minister, father, husband and Jesus-follower. If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to the RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

I recently completed an academic exercise, reflecting on the problem of evil. I found the assignment useful for my ministry, as I regularly confront questions about why God allows suffering and evil. The assignment is in response to Rabbi Harold Kushner’s best-selling book, When Bad Things Happen to Good People.

Continue reading ‘Why do bad things happen to good people?’

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Prayer and God

Published

Eddy E

on February 6, 2008

in Theology

. 1 Comment

I came across this quote today that I found insightful:

It is often said that a person’s view of God becomes much clearer when we know how that person approaches prayer.

Donald G. Bloesch, Holy Scripture: Revelation, Inspiration and Interpretation

Using this insight as a critique of myself, I have found that it does paint a profound picture of how I view (or don’t view) God. My prayer life is accurate engouh to indicate the depth of my faith in God and belief in God’s power.

My hesitancy to pray or to pray boldly may be reflective of what I think God can or cannot do. And it will shed light on what I think of God’s character—Does God want to be approached (or bothered) by my petitions? Is God as motivated as I am to want a particular situation to change?

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Leadership Insight 25: Expression of Love

Published

Eddy E

on January 23, 2008

in Leadership

. 0 Comments

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” A second time he said to thim, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said tot him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.”

— John 21.15-19

In John 21, Jesus asks Peter three times whether Peter loved him. And three times Peter answers that he does, and three times Jesus challenges him to tend or feed the sheep (which presumably are the people under Jesus’ leadership/authority). Peter and Jesus needed a moment to reconcile what had happened a few days earlier where Peter denied even knowing Jesus.Â Three times Peter betrayed Jesus and three times Jesus invites Peter to re-affirm his commitment and love toward him.

Jesus may be asking a simple enough question about love, but the implications of loving Jesus impress leadership upon Peter. Peter would soon become the leader of the community that Jesus had formed. Because Peter loves Jesus, he is given authority to lead the people of God toward the purposes of God.

There are probably various ways of reading the text and some may read an ‘if-then’ statement into that interaction. If Peter loves Jesus, then he would feed the sheep. But I don’t see it that way, Peter is obliged to lead because leadership would be an expression of his love to Jesus.

This reading of the passage is shaping me in this season where I am inviting young students to consider leading on campus. Too many people may lead for wrong reasons: Whether it is pride, addiction to power, desire for significance, or to pay God back (He’s done so much for me, this is the least I can do). At it’s core, we lead because we love Jesus.

The moments of deep intimacy with Jesus propel me to lead the people of God toward the purposes of God. The moments where I do not sense any love toward Jesus, leadership is a chore.

Leadership has to come out of a deep sense of love for Jesus. Ministry is demanding and there are far too many needs that challenge how I spend my time. I can lie to myself and believe that my tank is big enough and full enough to survive any season of ministry—that my focus needs to be on others and not on my relationship with Jesus. We love and lead people because we love Jesus.

Jesus asks us, “Do you love me?”

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Leadership Insight 35: Capacity & Responsibility

Leadership Insight 12: Watch and Learn

Leadership Insight 30: It’s Messy

Leadership Insight 3: Character Counts

Leadership Insight 24: Offerings

Published

Eddy E

on January 15, 2008

in Leadership

. 1 Comment

My supervisor often reminds me that I have much more to offer others (in terms of spiritual leadership) than I think I do. I can gather some of the reasons why I hesitate in thinking that God’s work in my life and through my life is that easily transferable or good for others. Some of it has to do that I have mixed opinions of the art of self-promoting what I want to offer others. Some of it has to do that I’m not sure how to translate what I’m learning to be of value to others. And I think some of it is that I feel like many areas of my leadership are still in the ‘beginnings’ stages, making me feel a bit unprepared to lead.

Recently, a young couple asked Rhoda and I to serve as their pre-marital counselors. While we were honored to be given such a privileged voice in their lives, we were also anxious to be invited into this role. Can we offer them anything? This couple is making the most important decision of their lives and we have the invitation to shape it for the better. I may know how to disciple someone in prayer or in studying the Bible, but marriage is a whole new ball game for me.

In thinking through the decision to serve in this capacity, I came to two conclusions:

I can offer what has been offered to me. God has taught us a lot about marriage. We have had to learn how to reconcile conflict and serve one another. We have had to work through expectations and assumptions. We are not perfect, but God has done a good work in us.
Leadership will always stretch us into new territory. God leads the Israelites to the edges of the Red Sea and asks whether they would trust him to take them across it when the Egyptian army is in hot pursuit. The Israelites had to struggle whether God would be faithful to save them from the army. In my experience of leadership, it seems that stretching into new contexts is normal. When I am stretched in a particular context, I learn more about myself and more about God.

I love that I get to serve in shaping this couple’s marital foundations. This ministry opportunity has led to me to reflect and be grateful for the ways that God has been good to me, and has stretched me to seek God’s wisdom and insights in a new territory.

Our offerings rest on knowing God’s goodness to us and being diligent to seek God in the new things that he is doing. Take those away, and we are right to conclude that we have little to offer people.

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Leadership Insight 12: Watch and Learn

Leadership Insight 30: It’s Messy

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Leadership Insight 21: Called

Finance Friday 19: What’s your new year’s resolution?

Published

Eddy E

on January 11, 2008

in Finance Fridays

. 0 Comments

So this is the time of year that people are inspired to make resolutions as well as break them. What are your new year’s resolutions when it comes to your finances?

I find it helpful to spend half a day, once a year to

Review our financial situation
Thank God for the ways he continues (sometimes surprisingly) to provide for our needs
Confess the ways that we have been unfaithful or poor stewards of our resources
Make corrections to our budget
Develop our generosity plan

Our family’s “fiscal year” actually ends in August. So in August, my wife and I review how we are spending our money, figure out how to make appropriate cuts, and believe God in faith for our provisions. We adjust our spending, our tithing and develop a financial plan for the year. But this time of year provides a helpful “mid-year” check-in. Having done that recently, there are a few things I noticed that I plan to correct:

I record too many things as “Miscellaneous” in my budgeting software. I commit to be a lot more diligent to record everything I spend. The better data I have, the better decisions I can make about our finances.
In the next month, we anticipate to have a little bit more disposable income due to paying off a couple of debts. We are going to make sure to save that money. We will pretend that those debts are still in play and so every month, we will put that amount of money away in a savings account.
Next month, we expect our second child. This means that we have to anticipate that some of our costs will increase (usually in diapers in the first few months and perhaps in formula, depending how the feeding plan goes). We hope that our 2 1/2 year old daughter would be completely potty trained, which would then keep the diaper cost the same, but we will inevitably be absorbing new expenses with a new child.
My taxes will continue to be more complicated and I continue to remain committed to do them myself (I will explain this reasoning in another post). Because of that, I will go through all of my records and prepare them for filing my taxes next month (for the past three years, I have been doing them over the Presidents’ Day Weekend in February).

Spend some time in the next month to get acquainted or re-acquainted with your financial situation. Spend the time in prayer, seeking God’s wisdom and stretch yourself in faith to live as one who trusts God —not money—for your provisions.

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Assumptions about God

Published

Eddy E

on January 10, 2008

in Theology

. 1 Comment

I wonder how many assumptions I have about God that are not necessarily Biblical? In taking my first theology course at Fuller Seminary (even though I am nearly done with my program), I am challenged to reflect on my assumptions about God’s nature.

Why do I believe that God is omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent (among the other omni’s that are classically attributed to God)? How do these omni’s or other beliefs shape how I connect with God and how I teach about God? For example, do I explain prayer in terms of the classic analogy of the child who asks her parent for something and the parent already knows what the child wants but delights in the process of the child asking? Or is prayer an appeal for God to change circumstances that seem hopeless and perhaps the answer to prayer is conditioned on the ask itself?

About 10 years ago, I read John Stott’s The Cross of Christ for the first time. That book deeply shaped my understanding of the cross, but what it also did is give me a deep appreciation for the thinkers and shapers of Christianity for the past 2000 years. They spent energy articulating doctrines we take for granted as being essential and orthodox to the Christian faith.

To solely rely on the work done with these thinkers will eventually test and challenge our faith. When The Da Vinci Code came out in 2003, many Christians found themselves unable to interact with author Dan Brown’s heresy. While some pastors took the time to educate their parishioners about the nature of Christ and the reliability of Scripture, many others shunned the book as heresy, not equipping people to interact with our culture about God who is far superior than what Brown paints in his book.

I am thankful for the ancient shapers of the faith and I pray to enter with them in the dialog rather than to take their conclusions as ‘gospel truth.’

If what I assume about God influences how I teach, lead, and preach, I want to make sure that I am growing on a trajectory to adopt right concepts about God. My hope relies on a growing relationship with God who will surely surprise me by his character. And rather than ignore everything I know about God and start over, I pray that as I grow in my relationship with God and my dedication to study and know the Scriptures, my understanding of God’s character would be more and more clarified.

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Free eHandBook: Knowing God’s Word

Published

Eddy E

on October 4, 2007

in Ministry

. 0 Comments

A few months ago, I embarked on a project do develop a handbook to teach people how to do devotions. I discovered that there were plenty of people around me that didn’t know how to study God’s word on their own. While there are some excellent resource, I wanted to create something that would not only teach but show people how to nurture their life of faith through devotionals.

The project got bigger than I first anticipated. I got inspired to create something of quality, and got great feedback from my wife (who I suppose served as an editor). I even thought of ways to combine this project with my entrepreneurial spirit. I created a nifty website and tried selling it, but didn’t get the traffic nor the sales that I had hoped or anticipated.

My entrepreneurial side will have to wait for another project. I have decided to make this handbook free (I was originally charging $7 for it). It’s titled: Knowing God’s Word: Seeking God and His Word. As with everything else I post, I would love the feedback. Feel free to use it and pass it on to others. For now, it’s still free (under Resources), but one day, I may be motivated to do something else with it.

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Finance Fridays 6: Trust in God

Published

Eddy E

on September 28, 2007

in Finance Fridays

. 0 Comments

Scripture is full of promises that God provides. Whether it is the story of the feeding of the 5000, or a straight word from Jesus in Matthew 6, our God provides for our needs. This past summer, I did some work out of Proverbs and was struck again that God reveals himself as one who provides and wants to provide for our needs.

Saying God is the great provider means that we can put our trust in him. We do not need to put our trust in our possessions, in our cars, in our houses, or in our relationships. It takes great risk to put trust in the “invisible” God. It takes courage to believe that we can live on less (because we are tithing or living simpler) and that God still has our back.

Theoretically, I believe. I believe that God is more trustworthy than anything else. I believe that God has my back. I believe that I do not have to worry. Here’s my struggle though: I don’t believe that God has my back when I put myself into financial trouble. I can trust in God when I do all things right. I don’t know if I trust in God when my sin or poor decisions lead me to financial trouble.

What God has been pressing me is the need for God when I feel like I’m in financial trouble. I need to believe the prayer of Psalm 86.7, “In the day of my trouble I call on you, for you will answer me.”

When I find myself in financial trouble (even if my actions have caused the trouble), I want to believe that I can call on God and he will answer me. Will God forgive me for my poor decision-making when it comes to my finances? Will God rescue me from my mistakes? I’d like to believe that Psalm 86.7 speaks into that and says a resounding, “Yes!”

There may be some seasons where I feel disciplined and wise in how I handle my finances. But there are other seasons where I feel in trouble and full of stress. The challenge during those seasons of stress and trouble is to still trust God for my finances and also whatever correction God may have—whether it be to stretch my giving or cut my expenses.

It’s one thing to say, “Lord, I am going to give this money away and I need to trust that you provide for my needs.” And it’s another thing to say, “Lord, I have mismanaged my money and I need you to rescue me and provide for my needs.” It’s easier for me to believe God’s love and God’s provisions with the former statement but not the latter one.

But the good news is that God does deliver us from our troubles—whether they were caused by us or by others. We need to trust God regardless of where we are and how we got there. Scripture is full of promises that God cares for all of our needs. Praise be to God!

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