Abundance > Scarcity

“You can do nothing more important than to wake up every morning of your life and remind yourself that the One who created and controls everything that exists has been made, by grace, to be your Father. He thinks of you with pure and faithful fatherly love. He acts toward you with the giving, providing, instructing, patient, and forgiving love of a perfect father. He is always with you. His hand is always upon you. He never stops watching you. His heart is always for you. He is always at work accomplishing his plans for you and through you. He lifts your burdens and lightens your load. He is your God, your Savior, your Friend – your Father. Nothing can ever be the same again because you now live in the Father’s house, where glorious grace decorates every room.”

— PAUL DAVID TRIPP

The principal of abundance vs. scarcity is applicable and relevant to many situations we men find ourselves in, including leadership, fatherhood, finances and relationships. In short, abundance is simply a mindset and belief that what I have and who I am is enough, stemming from a place of fulfillment, contentment and wholeness. On the other hand, scarcity is rooted in a desperate, striving for and selfish pursuit of what was never designed to make me whole.

Let’s take it a step further.

As a man, a father, if I haven’t embraced God’s abundance as a son, it’s nearly impossible to love and serve my family from a place of wholeness. Without it, the rich, perfectly imperfect moments of fatherhood are exchanged by thoughts and doubts, fueled by scarcity. 

Recently I was reminded of how easily it can be to forget this truth. I was reading an article on how our childhood experiences often shape our emotional response to the way we parent and react to our children. It hit me hard, really hard. I was using words with my son that came from a place of scarcity. Upon this realization, I was immediately brought to my knees in tears because I knew I had lost sight of his abundance as a son.

And so, allow me to reframe my thoughts, which fuel my words, and ultimately shape my life and the lives of those around me.

Because I’m a son, I live from a place of abundance and not from a place of scarcity.

Because I’m a son, I can receive his love as a father.

Because I’m a son, I can love my children as a father.

Because I’m a son, I’m fully equipped to steward the hearts of my children.

Because I’m a son, my shortcomings are platforms to impart perspective and wisdom

Because I’m a son, my presence should bring peace in my home

Abundance > Scarcity

Excerpt taken from New Morning Mercies, A Daily Gospel Devotional by Paul David Tripp, copyright © 2014. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.org