And God is able to make all grace overflow to you so that because you have enough of everything in every way at all times, you will overflow in every good work. 2 Corinthians 9:8
“With six siblings and my father being a factory worker, I grew up thinking we were a poor family. My perception changed when, as a teenager, I was privileged to travel to Communist Romania. I got to know a gypsy family who shared two rooms with fifteen people. But they had found Jesus, were exuberant in joy and thankfulness, and they had no notion of poverty whatsoever.
Years later I learned that no matter whether you are rich or poor, you can live your life under the constant influence of a spirit of poverty that tells you the lie: “You don’t have enough.” I have met individual Christians, families, and even whole churches who live under this lie. Rich and poor have to hear and learn that our generous heavenly Father wants His children to live in freedom and in a spirit of generous living and generous giving.”
Dr. Wilf Gasser (Switzerland) in “Having Enough” in Christ-Centered Generosity: Global Perspectives on the Biblical Call to a Generous Life (Colbert: GGN & KLP) 133.
Do you live in freedom or are you under this lie? Do you live like you believe that having Christ is having everything you need? Gasser is spot on when he says essentially that we cannot possibly grasp the freedom and generous life that our Father desires for us until we realize we have enough in Him!
As I travel the world and interact with Christian leaders, more than once, internationals with minimal financial resources (like the joyful gypsies mentioned above) have expressed sympathy to me regarding the “we don’t have enough” mentality, or perhaps malady, that they have seen afflicts so many Americans.
Good examples would be my Torch Trinity Graduate University students last year from Korea, China, Nepal, and Japan. They too were “exuberant in joy and thankfulness” because they testify that having Christ is having more than enough. Do you live in joyful freedom or are you under the lie that says “you don’t have enough”?