An Unlimited Supply

My husband asked me to find his favorite pen. Because he was recovering from knee replacement surgery, I looked everywhere he told me to look and didn't find it. Then I learned that he has a box full of these pens in his night stand! He said to me, “Well I bought them thinking they will last me the rest of my life and I didn't want to use more than one at a time.” I was flabbergasted and I said, “You are almost 70 years old. You can afford to use out of your abundance!” (story told with permission)

This conversation got me to thinking of other things. Such as my mother who had these pretty candles when I was a child. Some were in shapes of little children or scenes. But Mother never burned them! She was keeping them. And then I remembered telling my daughter to use her good “company” dishes, “just because.” How many things do we stash away in stead of enjoying them in the “now”?

A story in the Bible came to mind about the widow of Zarephath found in I Kings 17:7-16. This woman and her son had only enough oil and flour for one meal and then they expected to die. But Elijah asked her to give him a small cake and then one for her and her son. She was promised that her flour and oil would not diminish until the Lord sent rain upon the land (as they were in a drought.) This woman didn't have an abundance but by faith and obedience she ended up with an abundance. And because of this, she saved her life and that of her son.

We have many promises of the sufficiency and abundance offered to us by Jesus:

Grace – II Corinthians 12:9, “My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”

Mercy – Lamentations 3:22, “His mercy is new every morning.” Charles Spurgeon said, “God's mercy is so great that you may sooner drain the sea of its water, or deprive the sun of its light, or make space too narrow, than diminish the great mercy of God.”

Love – Psalm 136 is a psalm that has the constant refrain, “for His love endures forever” and continues for 26 verses. “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.” vs 1

Peace – Isaiah 54:10, “Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken or my covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you.” Philippians 4:7, “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

So I would like to challenge us to live abundantly. Use those pens out of the box! Burn the pretty candles! Use your company dishes for your family sometimes! Give out of what you have to those in need.

And remember that we have an abundance of things from God that will never be “used up”. Is that phrase colloquial? Just in case it is, I looked up synonyms for “used up”: Drained, reduced, vacant, weakened, decreased, emptied, lessened, spent, worn, depreciated. I'm sure there are many more than the four I listed above. John 10:10 tells us, “I came so that you may have life and live it more abundantly.”