Losing to Gain

Mark 10:28-31

Lord Jesus,

There is something in Peter’s words that touches the heart. He looks at you and says, “I have left everything and followed you.” It is an honest statement. Simple, yet full of meaning. He is saying what I sometimes feel but do not say out loud.

There are moments in life when I, too, wonder if what I have given up for you is worth it. The comfort, the familiar path, the safety of what I once knew. But you do not rebuke Peter. You do not question his words. Instead, you answer with a promise. A promise that nothing given up for you is ever lost. A promise that in you, everything is returned a hundredfold.

You are not a Lord who takes away. You are the Lord who gives. You are not a Master who demands, but one who blesses beyond measure. You see the hidden sacrifices, the small acts of love, the quiet decisions made in faith. You see what no one else sees.

And yet, your words remind me that your way is different. The first will be last, and the last will be first. In a world that chases recognition and reward, you invite me to something deeper. To follow you is to walk a path where love matters more than power, where humility is greater than honor, where giving is richer than possessing.

How easy it is to forget this, Lord. How easy it is to measure life by what I hold in my hands rather than what I carry in my heart. But you show me another way. A way where losing is gaining, where letting go is finding, where following you is never a path to emptiness but to a fullness beyond imagining.

Help me to trust you more. To live not with fear of what I might lose, but with faith in what you promise. To follow you not for what I will receive, but because to be near you is already the greatest gift. Teach me to walk your way, with a heart open and free, knowing that with you, I will always have more than enough.

Amen.