This is a topic that at times has really frustrated me. There have been moments when I’ve thought the western church focuses on it too much, which really only means I’ve heard a lot of people speaking on abundance and prosperity over the years. Let me give you my thoughts on abundance.
There are four New Testament verses that spring to mind regarding this topic, now I know this isn’t a complete list but these are the verses I’m going to look at over the next two entries.
Matthew 13:12
Whoever has will be given more and he will have an abundance.
Luke 6:38
Give and it will be given unto you, a good measure pressed down,
shaken together and running over will be poured into your lap.
John 10:10
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come
that they may have life and have it to the full (in abundance/
abundantly)
Ephesians 3:20
Now unto him who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly
(immeasurably) more than all we ask or imagine according to his
power that is at work in us.
I think it is important to note that not one of these verses actually says you will have all the money and stuff you want. We like to think they do but if we look at the contexts a rather different picture is painted.
In Matthew the verse is found in a discussion of why Jesus used parables. The verse directly before 12 is
He replied, “The knowledge of the secrets of heaven has been
given to you but not to them.
Matthew 13:11
The verse after is;
This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing they
do not see; though hearing, they do not understand.
Matthew 13:13
The abundance here seems to be referring to wisdom. If you seek wisdom and use wisdom you will gain more and wisdom leads to a balanced and contented life, (look at Proverbs) but not necessarily one full of stuff.
The next verse is the one from Luke, once again take the verse by itself and you could interpret it to mean a whole bunch of things, but for the sake of a little clarity lets look at the verse before it.
Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and
you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Luke 6:37
Why then do we assume the very next word, ‘give’, is referring to money? Of course there is the possibility that the only person who thought these things about these verses was me.
Back to Luke. It makes far more sense to consider verse 38 in relation to verse 37. When we do this the meaning that becomes clear to me is: we need to give mercy and grace and be compassionate and these things will be extended to us.
It is probably worth noting here that the good measure is ‘pressed down and shaken’, which to me indicates being put under pressure and roughed up a bit. This then leads to the thought of being tested for purity. Maybe here is where we need to ask ourselves a question; are the things we are giving genuine or are we putting on a façade? Do those feelings truly come from the heart or are we merely going through the motions because we hope to gain from it?
When I look at my life I’d like to be able to say I’ve done things for the right reasons but the truth is I haven’t always. I’ve taken these verses to be talking about money and have said ‘I’ll give’ and believed if I did I would then get the money or stuff I wanted. I’m sure then that means my motives were wrong, I may have been thinking about the cause but I was also thinking of how I could benefit. Self is so devious, maybe that is a topic for another time. When I’ve been pressed down and shaken I’ve come up lacking. Don’t get me wrong I love giving but that’s not the point, there are times I’ve given with wrong motives in my heart and that means the measure I was using was faulty.
When we move on to John we add something else into the mix. This verse is found in the middle of Jesus talking about being a good shepherd. The verse before it is;
I am the gate, whoever enters through me will be saved. He will
come in and go out and find pasture.
John 10:9
So here we are talking about being saved, being given life, which ties right in with verse 10. However it is probably the ‘have it to the full’ bit which is more the sticking point (some translations say ‘in abundance’).
For just a minute I would like to focus on the second half of verse nine, ‘He will come in and go out and find pasture’ The sheep is still responsible for feeding itself and drinking. The shepherd ensures the sheep doesn’t get killed or wander off too far but the rest is up to the sheep. This indicates to me that we have been given eternal life (life even after we die on earth – so I don’t think this is a promise to not let us die here) but within the boundaries of that life we can choose where to go and what to do. If we listen to the shepherd we will have the things we need. The sheep are put in a place to have more than they need but it doesn’t say anything about stuff they don’t need but may want. I realise this may be a simplistic reading of this but Jesus chose to use sheep to make his point not some human organisation. For animals abundance is having more than enough of what they need. We tend to make abundance about wants rather than needs, about material things rather than about anything else.
There are four New Testament verses that spring to mind regarding this topic, now I know this isn’t a complete list but these are the verses I’m going to look at over the next two entries.
Matthew 13:12
Whoever has will be given more and he will have an abundance.
Luke 6:38
Give and it will be given unto you, a good measure pressed down,
shaken together and running over will be poured into your lap.
John 10:10
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come
that they may have life and have it to the full (in abundance/
abundantly)
Ephesians 3:20
Now unto him who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly
(immeasurably) more than all we ask or imagine according to his
power that is at work in us.
I think it is important to note that not one of these verses actually says you will have all the money and stuff you want. We like to think they do but if we look at the contexts a rather different picture is painted.
In Matthew the verse is found in a discussion of why Jesus used parables. The verse directly before 12 is
He replied, “The knowledge of the secrets of heaven has been
given to you but not to them.
Matthew 13:11
The verse after is;
This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing they
do not see; though hearing, they do not understand.
Matthew 13:13
The abundance here seems to be referring to wisdom. If you seek wisdom and use wisdom you will gain more and wisdom leads to a balanced and contented life, (look at Proverbs) but not necessarily one full of stuff.
The next verse is the one from Luke, once again take the verse by itself and you could interpret it to mean a whole bunch of things, but for the sake of a little clarity lets look at the verse before it.
Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and
you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Luke 6:37
Why then do we assume the very next word, ‘give’, is referring to money? Of course there is the possibility that the only person who thought these things about these verses was me.
Back to Luke. It makes far more sense to consider verse 38 in relation to verse 37. When we do this the meaning that becomes clear to me is: we need to give mercy and grace and be compassionate and these things will be extended to us.
It is probably worth noting here that the good measure is ‘pressed down and shaken’, which to me indicates being put under pressure and roughed up a bit. This then leads to the thought of being tested for purity. Maybe here is where we need to ask ourselves a question; are the things we are giving genuine or are we putting on a façade? Do those feelings truly come from the heart or are we merely going through the motions because we hope to gain from it?
When I look at my life I’d like to be able to say I’ve done things for the right reasons but the truth is I haven’t always. I’ve taken these verses to be talking about money and have said ‘I’ll give’ and believed if I did I would then get the money or stuff I wanted. I’m sure then that means my motives were wrong, I may have been thinking about the cause but I was also thinking of how I could benefit. Self is so devious, maybe that is a topic for another time. When I’ve been pressed down and shaken I’ve come up lacking. Don’t get me wrong I love giving but that’s not the point, there are times I’ve given with wrong motives in my heart and that means the measure I was using was faulty.
When we move on to John we add something else into the mix. This verse is found in the middle of Jesus talking about being a good shepherd. The verse before it is;
I am the gate, whoever enters through me will be saved. He will
come in and go out and find pasture.
John 10:9
So here we are talking about being saved, being given life, which ties right in with verse 10. However it is probably the ‘have it to the full’ bit which is more the sticking point (some translations say ‘in abundance’).
For just a minute I would like to focus on the second half of verse nine, ‘He will come in and go out and find pasture’ The sheep is still responsible for feeding itself and drinking. The shepherd ensures the sheep doesn’t get killed or wander off too far but the rest is up to the sheep. This indicates to me that we have been given eternal life (life even after we die on earth – so I don’t think this is a promise to not let us die here) but within the boundaries of that life we can choose where to go and what to do. If we listen to the shepherd we will have the things we need. The sheep are put in a place to have more than they need but it doesn’t say anything about stuff they don’t need but may want. I realise this may be a simplistic reading of this but Jesus chose to use sheep to make his point not some human organisation. For animals abundance is having more than enough of what they need. We tend to make abundance about wants rather than needs, about material things rather than about anything else.
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