Our Daily Bread: Picking Up the Pieces After Job LossSample

LOSING TO GAIN: On my father's farm were certain fields he sowed by hand. He would strap on a canvas contraption that looked somewhat like a kangaroo pouch, fill it with seed, and go out to sow. He would cast seed everywhere. When a farmer sows seed in his field, it looks like he's throwing it away. It seems to be lost, but it isn't really gone. In due time he gets it back, with much more besides. When we give ourselves to Christ, it may seem to people as if we're throwing our life away. But He said that it is only as we lose our lives in Him that we find true life (MATTHEW 10:39). Jesus teaches us to measure our lives by losses rather than gains, by sacrifices rather than self-preservation, by time spent for others rather than time lavished upon ourselves, by love poured out rather than love poured in. It's a rule of life: God blesses those who give of their lives and resources (2 CORINTHIANS 9:6). Give out the truth you know, and He'll give you more to give away. Give your time, and you'll have more time to give. Set no limit on your love, and you'll have more love for others than before. Israel's wise man said, "There is one who scatters, yet increases more" (PROVERBS 11:24). It's one of the oldest paradoxes in the world, but it works. -David Roper When you grasp, you lose; when you give to God, you gain.