Have you noticed how many decisions we make out of a belief that something is scarce? We believe (often times) that we do not have enough…money, time, power, influence, talent, skill and well…you name it. Maybe we think we are not handsome or pretty enough. Or, we are not thin enough. OK, that’s enough with enough. The point is that scarcity thinking pervades us as individuals but it is also a collective thought pattern in our communities. If you expressed how “hard” times are or how “tight” money is, then you would likely find support for your thinking among a great many other people. They would share a similar experience of “not having”. All of us have likely commiserated on such topics in the past, right? All of us at some point have said, “I need help” in regards to escaping a circumstance driven by our own scarcity theories.
Our universities have financial models built around scarcity economics. This does not make scarcity true it just means that “enough” people show up in the world practicing a belief in scarcity that it has become an observable pattern. As an executive coach I am frequently talking to business owners about allocating their “scarce” resources. A few years ago in Atlanta I recall the news reporting that water was scarce and that we would run out in 60 or 70 days. I coach people in the middle of career transitions who are convinced that jobs are not plentiful. I hear constantly “how things are scarce”. I seldom hear “how things are abundant.” I’ll conclude here for the moment that it is far easier to believe in scarcity than to believe in abundance.
In John 10:10 my teacher declared that he was on the planet so that we might have a full or abundant life. My next comment has not been validated by a scientific poll, but more Christians believe in scarcity than abundance. I grant this is my opinion and I should add that I am not attacking any one on the subject. I am human. I understand the struggle to believe that God is able even though He clearly is. I live in this world that by far supports my unbelief more profoundly than my belief.
I am just going to throw this out there…scarcity does not exist. We make it up. What if the truth is…there is more than enough to go around for all of us? So, here’s an invitation. For the next 30 days do not let any scarcity thinking go unchallenged through your mind. Believe God is able to provide for any and every circumstance in your life. Take yourself “ON”. II Corinthians 10:5 states, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
So, to help this along…right now…decide to live life with abundant thinking and action. Here are some action items you can engage immediately to get this moving:
1. What can you do in the next 10 minutes to move you from scarcity thinking to abundance thinking?
2. Is there someone you can “give to” today out of your abundance? Does someone need your time, ears, money, blood, clothing, conversation…?
3. Get a rubber band and put it around your wrist. Snap it each time you catch yourself drifting back into scarcity thoughts. OK, the goal here is not to cause pain but to give yourself a physical reminder which hopefully causes you to smile. This is not punishment.
4. Repeat an affirmation and prayer of abundance every morning and evening. Here are some ideas:
- I embrace God’s promise of abundance and God’s promise of abundance embraces me.
- I always have more than enough of everything I need.
- Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Lord.
- I am going to allow God to bless me in surprising and joyful ways today. I’m watching.
- Prosperity surrounds me.
- My day is filled with limitless potential in joy, abundance and love.
- I am always led to people who need what I have to offer.
- You may feel a shift in your thinking merely by reading these affirmations. In fact, it is likely. Why? We think scarce and negative using this same skill set of affirming the undesirable. It works. We are what we think “about” and believe.