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In God's Economy: Abundance Doesn't Always Equal Money

God promises us life and that life in abundance (John 10:10). Don't equate that with a promise of abundant money. There are too many stories in the Bible of people who lived abundant lives but were not rich (See the story of the Widow of Zarephath; See Hebrew 11) and those who were rich but did not live abundant lives (See the Story of the Rich Official who was seeking this abundant life). Jesus himself was a perfect example of that. Even Jesus had no place to lay His head at night (Matthew 8:20). Yet I doubt people will say He didn't live an abundant life.

So if abundance doesn't mean money what does it mean? 

Abundance means having a new life in Christ and living the life God has planned for you, not holding on to the things of this world but being blessed to be a blessing to others. What abundance looks like will be different for everybody because no ones life path is the same. God has a plan for all of our lives and our plans are not the same so why would the abundance in our lives be the same?

You can have many things in abundance. Love, happiness, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control are some. And yes money can be included in this. For some God gives a large dose of love in their life because that is what makes their life full. Mother Theresa lived off of love even though she had no great wealth. And she was able to pass that on to others. Her life was abundant. For some in order to have a full life they need to be surrounded by joy. For others they need security so God lets you know He is there with you always. For others joy and peace is in working toward something even though it may not be realized in their lifetime. John the Baptist, Paul, Peter and the other disciples are perfect examples of this.  

Everyone is different so our abundance is different. But God's promises are the same, that He came to give us this abundant life, that He has a plan to prosper us, and that He will supply all that is needed for this abundant life.

The problem is we apply worldly definitions to God's promises and we begin to covet or want the abundance of others.

And God being who He is will sometimes give us that thing that we want: be it money, fame, knowledge, power, etc but then we wonder why we aren't happy? Money, Fame, Knowledge, Power are not inherently bad things because for some of us they are part of our abundant life, just look at King Solomon. But that is not that path for all of us. And then we wonder, Why we aren't joyful, why we don't have peace. It's because that thing you desperately wanted wasn't part of your abundant life. The focus as was Solomon's focus was God and His Will for us. That is the key to abundant life.

Living an abundant means achieving fulfillment though Christ. We all want money but God and eternal life are the bigger prize.

The Unlikely Missionary
DHW

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