“When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.” John 6:12
Do you suppose they took “the fragments that remain '' to the local leper colony? Perhaps each disciple took a basket home to their family or quite possibly the little boy who gave up his lunch was awarded the leftovers. What I do know is that nothing is ever lost with Jesus! This is just one of two thoughts I feel deeply in my soul as I read this verse.
Don’t you find it astonishing that Jesus was concerned that “nothing be lost?” Was 12 baskets of leftovers really that much compared to the massive amount of food passed out to more than 5,000 men, women and children? They ate the Bible says “as much as they would” and until “they were filled.” There must have been a whole heap of food prepared from those five barley loaves and two small fishes to fill a crowd that size. And yet nothing was lost.
Another thought this verse impresses upon me in the most encouraging way is that Jesus is more than enough!! Oh and He is! Personally I have found this to be true over and over again.
It IS amazing what God can do with 5 barley loaves and 2 small fishes. This was just about all I had to offer him when I set out for Bible college in 1983.
I was from a small town. My family was poor. I had no way to pay for college but I believed God wanted me to go. My Mom and Dad believed God wanted me to go. There were no available jobs in my small town and I had no transportation to drive to another town for a job.
After finishing high school my dad approached me about a job opportunity. I found out it was really more of an opportunity to be a help.
Our small town was in a bind and had hired one of our family friends to come in and help clean up “a few things” from the last administration. Our friend would need someone to watch her 4 year old son from 9 to 4 each weekday. She would pay me a whopping $25 a week!!
Yes, you read that right! That was the average weekly pay in America way back in the 30’s and 40’s. My mind was spinning! How could I go to college on that?
And then my dad said, “I think you should do it. You would be helping them out.”
And so I did. That fall I went to Bible College, handed God my 5 barley loaves and 2 small fishes and watched Him carry me all the way through to earning a 4 year degree. The stories of His provision are miraculous and I could spend quite a while telling them.
To say the least I went away full and with the leftovers in hand knowing that nothing is ever lost with Jesus and He is always more than enough!
Loser Bible Study Series Theme Verse:
“For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.” Mark 8:35
“Lose” from the Greek word “Apollymi” means “to destroy fully.” It is translated lost in John 6:12, our verse for today.