We usually think of giving as just for what it is. Whether it is to give our money, material possessions or even giving our time or an emotional type of support to our friends and/or family. We don’t really go too much into the motivation behind it. However, there are 2 different ways in which we can see giving. I’m pretty sure you’ve heard of it.
Giving out of lack. Giving out of abundance.
Lack Mindset
So you may wonder, how can a person give out of lack? What are they giving if they don’t have anything to give? Well, it happens more than you know. The way we give out of lack is when we give and hope to receive something back in return to fill an internal void. Many times we don’t even know we are doing this. For example, many of us are looking to receive love and acceptance from others, so we tend to give of ourselves to others, we give our time, our attention, our money, etc., to help us feel validated and/or seen. We hope to receive something in return even if it gives us a negative result. Then at the end of it all, we still feel empty, we feel unappreciated, we feel rejected.
Abundance Mindset
However, giving out of abundance is when our relationship with God is what fulfills our souls. We feel and believe that His love for us is so real that we can’t help to share it with others. When we trust His provision, His ability to provide for our physical needs, we can now give to others without expecting anything in return. It is when we can enter relationships whether with friends, a partner, a family member, without expecting them to give us the love we so yearn for. I’m not saying we shouldn’t want a person to express their love towards us, what I’m saying is that we shouldn’t seek from others what they cannot give us. A love that only God can provide.
“We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.”
1 John 4:16
It’s About Growth
And if you can relate with giving out of lack, I just want to remind you that it is ok and that there is always hope. Perhaps you probably didn’t even see it this way and would like God to help you in this area. God can and God will. God can help you fill that void. It just takes a willingness to grow with Him, to accept Him. God can love you like no other. Let us pray for one another so that we can all dwell in His midst and in His love.
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