There Is No Blessing Without the Breaking

Philip already did the math. Two hundred penny worth of bread wasn't sufficient for that crowd, and no amount of calculating was going to make it work. So Andrew brings a little boy with five barley loaves and two small fish, poor man's food, and even Andrew doesn't sound convinced. "What are they among so many?" That's faith and doubt showing up in the same sentence, and honestly, that's most of us.

Jesus took what little there was, gave thanks over it, and broke it. That's the part we don't like to sit with. The multiplying didn't happen before the breaking. It happened because of it.

And after everybody ate, He said something worth slowing down on. "Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost." Not the whole loaves. The pieces left over from something that had already been broken and used for somebody else's good. He didn't want any of it wasted.

We want the blessing without the brokenness. Scripture won't let us have it that way. God has to break the man before He makes the man. Every missionary worth remembering could tell you that. The blessing came, but so did the breaking, and one didn't happen without the other.

So stop calculating what you think you don't have enough of. Stop hiding that small gift because you've decided it won't work. Whatever fragment is sitting in your hand this morning, give it to Jesus. He will not run dry.

Fragments aren't failures — they're the start of a testimony. Hear the whole story by listening below.

Pastor Fortunato
Founding Pastor & Preacher of the Word.
Pilgrim Baptist Church — Cookeville, Tennessee

https://pilgrimbaptist.church/
https://www.sermonaudio.com/solo/pilgrimbaptist/