12 August 2022 | St Albans, UK [Vanesa Pizzuto]
Do you have a mindset of abundance or scarcity? Today I woke up thinking about the boy who was willing to sacrifice his food: five barley loves and the two little fish. Would I have done the same? Honestly, I don’t think so. My friends say that when I am hangry, I become a She-Hulk. In fact, they won’t take me on a long trip if I don’t have a package of emergency cookies. However, this boy clearly had a different attitude and a mindset of abundance. He was willing to open his hands and share the little he had.
I imagine that among the five thousand present, there was probably another boy with a packed lunch. Or maybe there was a woman with a packet of emergency cookies hidden in her purse. But, if these people existed, their scarcity mindset robbed them of a unique opportunity. They may have been the protagonists of a great miracle, but they lost if for not sharing what they had.
The bread and the fish that I find most difficult to share with other women are immaterial blessings such as success, attention, or the approval of others. It is easy to look at other women with suspicion and think that if they are popular or successful, then there will be less popularity or success for me… It is easy to fall into that trap, to close my fists and say, “How far will this go for so many?” (John 6:9). However, to be the protagonist of the miracles God wants to do in my life, I must abandon this scarcity mentality. Like that boy, I must open my hands to share. And through the glorious paradox of the Gospel, as we give, we will receive much more. We receive freedom to rely not only on bread (Matthew 4:4), but also blessings in such abundance that twelve baskets are left over.
This is an excerpt from No Fears, No Chains, reproduced with permission.
