“To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:27
Father God, your riches are boundless, your love endless, and your provisions unending! While I go throughout my day today help me to take my thoughts off the world’s insufficiencies and turn my eyes to your plentiful ways. Amen
It was only a short time ago that most of us worried about the scarcity of one product – toilet paper. It was a man-made problem borne out fear and selfishness. In fact, one day while at a home improvement store I witnessed a man and woman gleefully overloading their pickup truck with hundreds of rolls of toilet paper. I’m sure their plan was to sell most of it and their excitement was over the thousands of dollars they would make. A small part of me hopes they still have a garage full of toilet paper. My husband’s solution to this dire 21stcentury problem was to install bidets in our bathrooms, therefore eliminating the need for toilet paper. Two points-of-view to the same problem. Scarcity vs. abundance.
We humans have a tendency to always worry about not having enough, whether it be food, water, fuel, trees, love, friends, money, work, or even toilet paper. But God’s plan for us is so completely different. He is always wanting us to model our lives, actions and thoughts to His kingdom—which He shows to be the opposite of scarcity thinking.
"Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. 6 Your righteousness is like the highest mountains, your justice like the great deep. You, Lord, preserve both people and animals. 7 How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings. 8 They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights. 9 For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light." Psalm 36:5-9
You might be thinking, “that all sounds good but what about droughts and food shortages and waning oil reserves?” To that I say, trust God first for He is always about abundance. Throughout scripture, especially in the letters to the churches, we are reminded about the basic lesson of childhood – sharing. (Something the folks in the pickup truck forgot) You see, God provides. He may provide more to you than you need so that you can give to another. He also provides others with knowledge and skills to discover new ways for God to meet our needs. Abundant thinking is always solution-based rather than fear-based.
I learned a valuable “point of view” lesson once from Dr. Laura Schlessinger about marriage. If you always have the perspective that divorce is not an option then you will always find new solutions to marital problems (barring issues with violence and other abuses). It’s the same with God. If we always have the perspective that God is a god of abundance – overflowing with unending love and grace and mercy for us – then we will seek ways to see Him at work. We will see our own abundance as His tools to serve others.
Friend, God’s kingdom is overflowing with milk and honey. When we see the world in a panic over the latest scarcity-based fear we need to turn our eyes to God. His kingdom of abundance is open to all who call Him Savior and for that we should give Him all glory and honor!
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