Skip to main content

The Bread Tree

Have you ever seen a bread tree? It would be nice if loaves of bread grew right on their branches, and all we had to do was pluck them and eat.

In their book The Shaping of Things to Come, Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch address the question of why God didn't just create a bread tree. They wrote, "He prefers to offer us a grain and invite us to buy a field and plant the seed. He prefers that we till the soil while He sends the rain. He prefers that we harvest the crop while He sends sunshine. He prefers that we grind the crop and knead it and bake it while He gives us air in our lungs and strength in our arms. Why? Because He would rather that we become partners with Him in creation." 

I agree with those authors, and believe we can apply that same way of thinking to our money.

Most churches probably have a wish list, things they would love to do if only they could afford it. We dream about doing things, and say, "If someone gave us a million dollars, I would use the money to..." But why is it this way? Can't God just make the money materialize? 

Of course He can. Jesus told Peter to go fishing, and the first fish he would catch would have the money in its mouth to pay Peter's taxes. God can work miracles to pay our bills (Matthew 17:24-27). 

But He prefers that we partner with Him in missions. God wants His people to give, to invest, to sacrifice, and to do without. He wants us to be willing to give up a luxury in order to invest in ministry. Those are the kinds of sacrifices God blesses. Luke 6:38 tells us, "Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will it be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

When we partner with God in our giving, He generously gives back to us. And in Philippians 4:19 we have this promise: "And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus." 

There is not a bread tree or a money tree, but there is a God who provides for His partners. 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

To Save a Life

(Like my blog about the peace symbol, this blog was written as a default response to all the parents, students, and other people who are asking my opinion of To Save a Life.) By now you have probably heard of the movie To Save a Life, which opened nation-wide in theaters on January 22nd. The movie deals with so many issues that teens face today, like suicide, cutting, drinking, drugs, premarital sex, teen pregnancy, and abortion. At first glance this movie looks like an awesome resource that we should recommend for our teens, parents, youth pastors, and youth workers. But a closer look at the movie reveals a few disturbing things. For starters, according to pluggedin.com, there are 2 uses of the “A” word, 5 uses of hell (used as a curse word), and once the “D” word is used. There are other crude terms used to describe a girl, and crude terms for referring to sexual activity. There is also a bedroom scene that shows a girl removing a boy’s shirt, then afterwards the girl putting he...
38 comments
Read more

All Things To All Men

One of our favorite verses to use in our evangelism methods is where Paul said that he “becomes all things to all men” so that he might “by all means save some (I Corinthians 9:22).” This is certainly a good idea if we keep it in its proper context and application. For example, I remember a time in high school where I knew a kid that loved skateboarding. Being the chicken that I am, I was never a skateboarder. All he would talk about was skating, and I knew none of his lingo. But to help develop a relationship with him (he was new to our church and didn’t know many people), I brushed up on my skating lingo so I could ask if he had done any sick ollies lately (impressed?). This would be like Paul saying “to the skateboarder, I became a skateboarder.” This is effective and necessary. But then there are the people that use this verse to justify doing sinful things in the name of evangelism. The first one that comes to mind is about drinking. Some people will go into the bars to evan...
23 comments
Read more

What is a Curse Word?

I know. Stupid question, right? But lately I have heard Christians begin to debate what actually makes a word a curse word. Since the Bible never says, “Thou shalt not say the ‘s’ word,” how do we know that a word is bad? Because of this I have heard Christians justify cursing. The Bible gives a broad command for Christians to adhere to: let no corrupt word come out of your mouth (Ephesians 4:29). The word corrupt means rotten; therefore, we should never say a rotten word, whether it is on the list of curse words or not. First, we have to realize that there are curse words. On the night of Jesus’ arrest Peter was found guilty of using one himself. Matthew 26:74 tells us that when Peter denied knowing Jesus that he began “to curse and to swear.” This verse shows that there are curse words, and that they are wrong to use. I’m sure whatever words Peter said were not the same curse words that we have in our culture today. Here is the point: a curse word (or rotten word) is any wo...
18 comments
Read more