The More You Have The More You Want

Recently God opened my eyes to a troubling fact. I was listening to a podcast by Andy Stanley on giving where he stated the more people have, the less people are willing to give back. People with more money do give bigger amounts because they can afford it but they give a lower percentage of their income. I found this to be alarmingly true after visiting Belize. I witnessed families and individuals who were literally living in dirt floor houses with palm leaf thatched roofs and barefoot, offer the others and I food with a smiling face. They did not have a grocery store nearby to buy more groceries, nor did they even have the money to buy the groceries. Yet they were more willing to give what little they had to a few strangers than most Americans ever will give.

You see the sad truth is that America has been a blessed nation but not by our own doing. God blessed America but we slowly have come to the conclusion that it was because of all of our hard work that America became the greatest nation on earth. As we accumulated massive amounts of wealth and luxuries, we got the idea stuck in our minds that we were responsible for our own prosperity, and as we have gained more and more stuff, we have become less willing to depart from that stuff. Personally I learned this lesson the hard way.

I was blessed to grow up with a dad who taught me to hunt and took me often. I truly enjoyed spending time with my dad especially when we got to spend it in God’s beautiful creation. As I grew I began to chase the numbers I wanted to shoot my limit of waterfowl, I wanted the biggest deer on the wall, and I wanted the most bands on my lanyard. Hunting and spending time in the outdoors became a competition for me, a competition I could never truly win. It became a focus of my life and I quickly came to the conclusion that hunting and the outdoors were not as fun as they once were. The waterfowl season of 2014 came and was passing quickly and as was typical, I wasn't finding the enjoyment in hunting I once had, even after shooting limits of birds all season long and shooting my first band. Then on a goose hunt towards the end of the season, it hit me why I wasn't enjoying myself anymore. I was chasing the numbers, and numbers couldn't give me fulfillment because they can never be caught. I had been blessed with lots of shooting and lots of great memories that season, but I was hoarding them mostly for myself. After returning home from a good hunt that day, I started thinking about how to make my hunts enjoyable again. I thought about it for a few weeks when I was approached by a good family friend from church wanting to go duck hunting for the first time. BINGO. The light bulb went off! Long story short I took him and my younger cousin, who does not have the opportunities I have to hunt constantly, for a quick hunt on our small farm pond. We only shot a few ducks that day but seeing the smiles it put on both of their faces made it one of the best hunts I had the privilege of being a part of that season. I say all of that to simply say, I was blessed by God but when I hoarded my blessing for my own personal gain and consumption, I found no happiness or fulfillment in that blessing. However, when I shared that blessing I was blessed even more greatly than I had been before.​

Don't fall for Satan’s trap of hoarding your blessings. God has blessed us to be a blessing to others that are less fortunate than ourselves. Satan will tell you the more you have, the better off you will be; therefore our mindset becomes the more we have the more we want. If you are tired of listening to Satan's lies about how hoarding your blessing is of greater benefit than sharing them, I would be honored if you contacted me at wesley.kaw@gmail.com or through any of our social media platforms, so I can have the privilage to pray with you! God Bless!