Scarcity and abundance

”You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” (Psalm 23:5)

Are you a glass half full or a glass half empty kind of person?

Often that question is posed to reveal whether we are an optimist or a pessimist, but I’m not quite sure that’s true. After all, both optimism and pessimism are to do with the future. The proverbial half-full glass is right in front of us now. That’s why I like one response to the question, which is to be thankful we have a glass at all!

What the glass-half-something question reveals, I think, is our mindset. Specifically whether we have an abundance midset or a scarcity mindset.

I am by nature a glass half empty kind of person. That means I tend towards a scarcity mindset in my thinking. Scarcity means that there isn’t quite enough of something. In the example, the scarcity is water. But my scarcity mindset can think that way about a lot of things. How much time I have to get things done, for example. The resources needed to complete a project. The people needed to make an event happen. Whatever it is, my thinking tends to worry that there isn’t enough of it.

An abundance mindset, however, does the opposite. Its default mode is to assume there is enough of what we need. Enough water in the glass. Enough time to get things done. Enough resources to accomplish our goals. Enough people to help out.

Which one do you tend toward? Scarcity or abundance?

Clearly abundance is a more positive attitude to have, but only if it’s based on truth. Having an overactive abundance mindset about time, for example, could lead someone to take on more than they can realistically accomplish. An overactive scarcity mindset about time, however, can leave a person not trying to accomplish anything at all!

Some of us will be naturally drawn to scarcity and others to abundance. But in the Christian life, however, we ought to have the mindset of abundance. Consider these verses:

”You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” (Psalm 23:5)
“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10)
“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” (2 Peter 1:3)

Each of those verses show that the mindset of the gospel is abundance. David speaks of his cup overflowing, not just full, but more than full. Jesus tells us that he has come to bring life, and not just ‘enough’ life, or ‘perhaps enough’ life, but life in fullness (or as some translations put it, ‘in abundance’).

I love Peter’s words in 2 Peter 1 verse 3. God has given us everything we need for a godly life. There is no scarcity in God’s economy. The glass-half-empty person in begins to worry: What if I don’t have enough grace for the struggles I am facing today. Peter reminds me: God has given you everything you need. Nothing has been left out. God knew what you were to face and has given all you need to face it.

My natural scarcity mindset can get in the way of knowing the wonderful promises of God. I need daily to remind myself that God’s economy is one of abundance. When it comes to life and godliness, my glass is neither half-full or half-empty. In Christ, my cup overflows.

Photo by manu schwendener on Unsplash