Generous Living: Abundance vs. Scarcity (Part 2)
Living generously begins with an open heart—and open hands.
Dear Brothers and Sisters at New Hope,
This is part 2 of our series on Generous Living. With the distractions of summer, I haven’t been as diligent as I hoped to be regarding this topic. God has convicted me of that and it’s time for some more intentional focus.
What does it mean to live generously?
To live generously means to give freely, to willingly share resources like time, skills, and money, without expecting anything in return. Generous living includes being kind to others, being selfless, and being encouraging to those around us. It’s a virtue. Generous living is a result of following Jesus and recognizing that everything we have is a gift from God.
The Bible is filled with examples of people who lived generously (and some who didn’t). In Part 1 of Generous Living, I highlighted Barzillai (2 Samuel 19) and Dorcas (Acts 9), two fairly obscure people in the Bible who lived their lives with an incredibly generous spirit. They gave of themselves, including time and resources, in ways that impacted many other lives (to read this, go to Part 1 ).
But there were certainly many others who lived generously. There was Abraham, who was generous in hospitality (Genesis 18). Ruth was both loyal and generous, committing to care for her mother-in-law, no matter the cost (Ruth 1-4). There was the widow of Zarephath who was generous in her trust (1 Kings 17) and the widow who offered everything she had to the Temple (Mark 12). There was the little boy who gave his lunch to Jesus to feed the 5000 (John 6). And then there was the Macedonian church, who despite their own poverty, gave generously to help their brothers and sisters in Jerusalem (2 Corinthians 8). Of course, the ultimate example of generous living is Jesus Christ himself, who voluntarily gave up his own life on a cross to make a way for us to have an intimate relationship with a holy God.
I think that gratitude and appreciation are really what’s at the core of living generously. Do we live with a sense of thanksgiving for how God has blessed us or do we lament what we don’t have? This refers to material resources but also time, abilities, and relationships. When we live with a sense of genuine gratefulness for all that God has given us, we tend to see life through the lens of abundance rather than scarcity. What do I mean by this?
God’s Kingdom is one of amazing abundance and Jesus demonstrated this. Those living in Judea in the first century typically didn’t have enough food; they always lived with a certain amount of hunger. Thus, Jesus often demonstrated abundance with food – think about the miracles of feeding the 5,000 and then the 4,000. There was enough for everyone to eat until they were full and then there were many basketfuls left over. For most of us, we generally get to eat until we are full so maybe that wouldn’t make sense to us. Yet, we still operate our lives from a scarcity mindset. That means we worry that there won’t be enough, we are fearful of running out, that there won’t be enough for me. We live always thinking, “Well, what if this happens or that happens?” This is the problem - if we view our lives from the lens of scarcity, then we will always be fearful and anxious. And we will miss so many of the blessings that God has in store for us.
Jesus wants us to operate from the abundance mindset. He wants us to trust that he will provide all our needs and then some. In the feeding of the 5000, there were twelve baskets of food left over! They were not in danger of running out. Jesus also wants us to have a stewardship mentality, recognizing that all we have, God has generously put into our hands. All our resources are a gift from God: our health and physical abilities, our children, grandchildren, and friends, our time, our resources, our home, our church, these are all precious gifts from God.
Jesus wants us to look beyond what’s in front of us. Look up from this physical, earthly reality and see that there is so much more. When we read the Gospels, we read about a Savior and Lord who demonstrates over and over again, “I’ve got you. I’m here for you. Trust me.” The world tells us to be afraid, hold on tight to whatever we have. But Jesus is saying, “Look beyond the world. Look beyond what’s right in front of you. Look at my Kingdom.”
When we trust in the abundance of God’s Kingdom, then it frees us to be generous and practice gratitude. It frees us to not hold so tight to things, to allow God to use us to bless and care for others. It gets us beyond ourselves. Friends, we are to be a picture of God’s Kingdom to an unbelieving, hurting, hungry, anxious, fearful, angry world. There is no plan B. We are plan A for demonstrating the Jesus way of life to others. Remember, the Christian life was never supposed to be self-focused, it’s about giving ourselves away.
Things to think about:
Can you think of someone recently who made Christ plain to you with a loving and generous spirit?
Can you think of a time when you had the opportunity to respond in gratitude (abundance) or in fear (scarcity)? What did you choose and what were the results?
When you think about all the different elements of your life, how generous are you? How often do you give yourself away (your time, skills, and resources)?
Blessings,
Pastor Vicki