Plenty

P

I love eggs.

When my kids first started showing signs of enjoying eggs too, I thought that was swell. (Hey, they’re growing up to be like their dear old dad!) But more recently, their enjoyment of those sold-by-the-dozen little orbs has felt more threatening to me.

Take Monday, for instance. I was headed for the fridge just as kid #3 peered into the egg carton. Two eggs left.

Two.

If you’re thinking, “Perfect, one for her and one for you,” then please simply accept that you and I feel differently about breakfast. In my world, one egg is what you eat just before you eat the other three or four on your plate.

Before all things, God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) existed in perfect love, joy, and plenty. He existed fully satisfied and without need.

So why didn’t the Trinity just enjoy the happiness He had forever and ever? Why did He create us?

Because God loves to share.

From the first chapter of the first book of the Bible to the last page of the last book, God is generously, creatively, and faithfully sharing Himself and all that’s good with us.

Yet from early on we’ve been grabbing and grasping at His creation like beggars.

We stuff our faces till we’re sick. We spend our lives making sacrifices at the altars of newer, faster, bigger, and better. We devour people’s flesh with our lust. We glance endlessly at the lives we’re not living as though what we’re hungry for is over there instead of right here. We scribble out God’s ancient commands and rewrite morality so it doesn’t cost us anything and never has to hurt.

We do so because we don’t believe God loves to share.

Dallas Willard once wrote that behind all temptation is the lie that God is holding out on us. We’ve bought this lie and shout it at Him with raised, grasping fists.

In reply, Jesus walked silently to the Cross and, as though He’d not already given enough, poured out everything—all His love, His lordship, His mercy, His life—for us.

And I struggle to share an egg.

To become a man who shares generously, who willingly gives what I love most, I come to the Cross. There, I gaze in wonder. There, I receive what I do not find in myself. There, I practice believing in His generosity by giving generously. 

And when I do, I find no matter what I give and no matter how much I give up, God has given, is giving, and will always give more.

In what area of your life have you been living like God is stingy, and that obeying Him will leave you wanting?  What actions can you take to live as though you believe He is actually generous toward you in this area of your life? Leave a comment below.

Grateful,
Josh

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5 comments

  • Josh, thanks for sharing your thoughts if not your eggs. I would love to treat you to breakfast soon.

    I struggle to share my prayer life. I often pray for “my needs” and the needs of those close to me (probably because an answer to those prayers would make my life easier). It is more difficult to pray regularly for the needs of others when there is no benefit to me. It is most difficult to share my prayer time with God and allow Him to speak to me.

    As you make clear, the cross is a great place to take these struggles. Silence and a deep sense of gratitude is often my response and the place where I can most clearly hear God speaking to me.

  • The thought that came to my mind after I read the article has to do with God’s faithfulness towards the end of my life. Will I feel blessed when I am unable to move around and do what I am doing now? I have to remind myself that the Lord will be enough at that point.

  • Having been in the midst of an especially “rough patch” for the last 6 months or so has left me alternating between self pity and anger with “occasional, minor bouts of thankfulness” sprinkled in (when I actually take my thoughts off myself and focus them on God in my quiet times). Along comes this message and whacks me on the head with a 2 by 4…”behind all temptation is the lie that God is holding out on us”. In my heart I want to be generous but realize how woefully short I come. Grateful for your ministry and today’s message.

By Josh Glaser

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