Overcoming: Devotions from Time of GraceSample

LIVING WITH LOSS In the mathematics of life, my favorite operation is addition. I love it when God adds things to my life. I like the concept of more. My likes then turn into "wants," and my "wants" turn into "needs." I am not so wild about subtraction in my life. It seems unfair when others have so much that I should have less. How about you? When you have lost money, a spouse, or your health, have you ever concluded that God is cruel? God does indeed use a knife on our stuff, and sometimes also on us personally. But that knife is a pruning knife, as Jesus tells us in John chapter 15, and it's being wielded by an expert gardener. He cuts and subtracts to give a better shape to our lives. His cuts are always intended to make us spiritually healthier and help us to bear more and better fruit. Isn't that encouraging news? Want to see where those ideas come from in the Bible? Let's talk . . .