We make lists… we write notes… we use an app called Wunderlist… we send text messages, all for the purpose of remembering to buy something that we’re out of.
You’ve got a list. We all do.
Exhaustible resources.
Our refrigerators are empty, our gas tanks need to be filled, our cupboards look bare.
Much of our existence and much of the global turmoil in the world swirls around the discovery, management and utilization of finite resources.
In the very kitchen where many of the edible resources get prepared and consumed, Mary has positioned three words on top of our cabinets. In bold block letters the words read… FAITH HOPE LOVE.
They’ve been in a place of prominence for over a decade… but they’ve been on the heart of God since the foundation of the world.
By contrast, these words are inexhaustible. Infinite.
In many ways, the more we use them, the more vast they become.
There are times that I’ve been stingy with love or hope or grace or mercy… and when that happens, my soul begins to shrivel and my pool of joy dries up. But, when I am liberal with love, when I am lavish with hope, when I am extravagant with grace, my supply increases.
The beautiful story in 2 Kings 4 of Elisha and a widow gives us a snapshot of what this looks like. A poor, debt-ridden woman is told by Elisha to go to her neighbors and borrow some empty vessels. She is then instructed to pour what little precious oil she has into each container. Amazingly, miraculous, the oil pours freely; abundantly.
While this is an engaging story, I believe it’s also intended to inspire us to pour out the gifts of God as freely and confidently, and at times, as outrageously as possible.
We pour, He fills.
Ironically, and confessionally, I realize that I spend much too much time protecting and preserving my finite resources, when I should be preoccupied with investing what will never be consumed.
His love is inexhaustible. His hope is infinite. His grace is endless.
Milk. Bread. Coffee… here today, on my shopping list for tomorrow.
But love. Vast and limitless. Boundless love.
Go crazy. Spend freely. Give outrageously. Love.
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