Tuesday, October 18, 2011

What Is "Enough

 Remember this saying, "A few seeds make a small harvest, but a lot
of seeds make a big harvest."  Each of you must make up your
own mind about how much to give. But don't feel sorry that you
must give and don't feel that you are forced to give. God loves
people who love to give.  God can bless you with everything you
need, and you will always have more than enough to do all kinds of good things for others.  The Scriptures say, "God freely gives his gifts to the poor, and always does right."


What Is "Enough"?
Too often we humans are dissatisfied with our lot. Cultural messages stoke our dissatisfaction, encouraging us to believe that "enough" is just out of reach, and that we need to keep striving for it.
It's a very old problem, one illustrated in a short story published in 1886 by Leo Tolstoy called "How Much Land Does a Man Need?" (www.katinkahesselink.net/other/tolstoy.html). Pahom, a peasant, purchases a small tract of land. The harvest is good. His debts are paid. He is content. But soon he yearns for more.
One day he hears of more land that is offered at "one thousand rubles a day." How much land that would be? "As much as you can go round on your feet in a day," Pahom is told. The next day he sets off at dawn and walks and walks without resting.
As the sun is about to set, he is still far from his starting point. He begins running, his heart beating like a hammer. He reaches his goal just in time and falls to the ground. When a servant comes to help Pahom to his feet, he is dead. "Six feet [of land] from his head to his heels was all he needed," writes Tolstoy.
The good news is that God's "more than enough" is not an offer to indulge in "more, bigger, better." Instead God's abundance turns us toward others. As the 2 Corinthians reminds us: God can bless us with more than enough to do all kinds of good things for others. May you be blessed to bless others through our gracious, generous God who provides more than enough.

Together In Christ,
Pastor Lane