Love and the Fear of Scarcity

Copyright 2006 by Shea Oakley

All rights reserved

All human beings, Christians included, live in a physical world where scarcity appears to prevail. This is certainly true in the terrestrial and physical sense. For instance we have access to finite natural resources. A good example of this reality is oil. When the Earth finally does run out of petroleum it will be the end of that particular resource, period. God only deigned to make a certain number of dinosaurs. The whole economic principle of competition is based on the fact that there is only so much of any given material in the world to go around.

However this paradigm does not hold in the supernatural realm. God Himself is infinite and the aspects of his character which he gives liberally to His children are infinitely available. Love is one of the aspects of that divine character and therefore love is limitless. Today we hear much talk of "ministry burn-out" and "compassion fatigue". No doubt many believers have taken on too much in their attempts to minister to others and have found themselves exhausted. But the problem most likely lies in going outside the limits of the ministry that God has appointed for them.

The Bible tells us that "we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us". Unfortunately that statement can lead to serious problems when taken out of context. In the light of the full counsel of Scripture this promise must be interpreted as meaning that our lord gives us whatever we need to accomplish the specific mission He has tasked us with. Theoretically "all things" could include flying by flapping our arms and jumping off a building! Common sense tells us that such an idea is preposterous. The unlimited ability to do anything at anytime clearly is not what this passage is referring to.

If it is God who is truly opening the door for us to minister to someone He will provide us with whatever we need to do so. The call of God always includes the power to achieve whatever that call asks of us. In this sense there is no scarcity in love assuming we are open to receive it (a large assumption). Even if we recognize the task before us it will do us no good unless we are willingly and sincerely surrendered to its accomplishment. A seeming lack of love for any particular task is often the result of a heart closed to receiving the love the task requires. The necessary love is available but we are unwilling to become conduits of it.

One of the reasons for our unwillingness may be the dread of losing something we think we need for ourselves. Thank God that He can and does pour back into us whatever love we pour out in serving Him. We do not need to falter in our loving of others because we fear to lose what little love we feel we have. If we are doing God’s will in any act of love He will replenish us completely, and beyond, because He is a superabundant being and He wants our cups, like His, to overflow.