Inspiration and Life

Do You Want More in Your Life?

The three states of sufficiency

Do you have enough of what you need in life, or do you find yourself lacking? Imagine having more than you could ever need. So much you could give some away and have plenty left over. What a wonderful feeling this experience would give you!

Let’s look at three states of sufficiency in life. These states cut across every area of every living being. They can include money, work, food, love, a good attitude, or a hundred other things you need or desire.

The states of sufficiency describe possessing an amount of something that is:

• Sufficient or adequate
• Insufficient or inadequate
• Supersufficient or abundant

The fascinating thing about each of these states is what they show you about yourself! In them, you will find where your heart is and how you think. They show you where your interests lie. They expose a great deal about your life and others’ lives.

While we could focus on many areas concerning these three states, let’s look at something all of humanity must deal with, commonly known as generosity and its counterpart, greed. In today’s society, generosity and greed almost always relate to money but can extend to relationships and many other things. Let’s examine how each of the three states affects this area of our hearts.

Sufficiency — having enough

In the state of sufficiency, you have enough of what you need. Sufficiency is a great place to be so long as you can maintain it. You don’t worry about not having enough or too much. If you can set a little money aside each month, you can build a surplus of savings to handle unforeseen expenses.

If you cannot save because of living paycheck to paycheck, you can easily slip into having too little. This only happens when you live too close to the edge and put nothing aside for a rainy day.

Those who live with sufficiency are often generous, which will help you do more and acquire more over time. When you are generous, you receive more through the law of sowing and reaping. This same law works against you if you are greedy. A greedy person’s attitude alone will keep them from helping others and will lead them to lack in their life.

What happens if you lose your job or have a large, unexpected home or auto repair bill. Things can get tight, and you can slip into insufficiency, which you want to avoid. When you are at this stage, you usually work it out.

Most likely, you have already experienced insufficiency. When you have, you will do everything possible to regain the state of sufficiency, even if it means taking on more work.

How does having enough affect our hearts from a generosity or greed standpoint? It largely depends on the mindset you naturally maintain or work to attain. You will find it easier to be generous with a growth mindset, while a fixed mindset leans toward greediness.

To learn more about growth and fixed mindsets and how they affect your life, check out this article: How to Easily Change Your View of the World

A basic tenet in life is to get more, you must give more. Keeping what you have because of greediness does nothing for humanity and is a selfish act that will harden your heart,

Insufficiency — having too little

When you are in lack, it can be a real struggle. This is especially true when you require money for an important need, like shelter or food. Typical wisdom says that you can’t be generous if you are struggling to put food on the table and keep a roof over your head. Or can you?

The important thing is although you may not be able to be generous with money, you can be generous with something else in your life. Why not give your time, talent, encouragement, praise, or appreciation. Finding a way to give when you have little can be very uplifting and eventually lead you out of the struggle.

Having too little can make you work harder or give up. Sometimes things may seem to go from bad to worse, yet be encouraged. Never give up! So long as you have breath and life, you can learn more, do more, and become more. Everyone who is in a state of lack has potential. When you put that potential to use, you can change your life for the better.

“I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.” Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)

It is inevitable that when you have too little, you struggle. I remember the early days when I first got married and tried to make ends meet. My wife got a job working at High’s Ice cream for $1.00 an hour. I found a job working at a warehouse and as a laborer for $2.10 an hour. (The owner paid me an extra ten cents because I was married!)

Sure, this was many years ago, and I married young. I went from high school to becoming responsible for putting food on the table and a roof over our heads overnight. I recall struggling to pay our rent and eating at my mother-in-law’s home for some time because we had little food in the house. Yes, times were tough in those early years, and I am thankful for the lessons they taught me.

I learned when you put forth consistent effort over time; you can pull ahead. I realized how important it was to save, no matter how little. Even if I could only save a dollar a week, it put me a dollar ahead. I learned to delay gratification and pay cash (financing is a trap in itself.) We learned many other lessons from this time in life. Suffice it to say, the education it provided led us out of having too little.

Regarding how generous or greedy we were back then, my wife was far more generous than I was. For example, I didn’t think we could afford to give a penny to the church. How would we when we could barely pay our bills? Yet she did give, although she had to hide it from me because of my greed. It amazes me how we always had enough to cover the bills, even if we were a bit late.

The thing I learned from this was even when I couldn’t afford to give, I couldn’t afford not to give. Giving provided the means to grow from insufficiency to sufficiency. Although it was not overnight, it did happen over time.

To this day, I view what happened to us as a miracle, even though scripture has always pointed to how we receive more in return when we give.

“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Jesus in Luke 6:38 (NIV)

Supersufficiency — having more than enough

While it takes dedication and hard work to have an abundance in life, anyone in our country can do it. Starting at insufficiency can be difficult, but don’t let that discourage you. Every month great numbers of people move from insufficiency to sufficiency to supersufficiency.

When you achieve the state of supersufficiency you gain a freedom unlike anything else. Lack no longer binds you, but you can still be generous or greedy. Be generous if you want to hold on to the freedom found here. To put it as simply as possible:

Generosity provides freedom, while greediness steals freedom.

“There is a sufficiency in the world for man’s need but not for man’s greed.” Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948)

You find what is truly in your heart when you have an abundance. It is far easier to be generous when you have plenty, but how generous are you? You can be a little generous and still be greedy in your heart. To give for the appearance of being generous is to lie to yourself and others. True generosity comes from the heart through compassion, care, concern, and love.

When you are in a state of abundance, what do you do? This state will show how generous you are or are not. Do you show generosity to those who have less? To those who are in need? Or do you hoard what you have? In other words, when you examine your heart, are you generous or stingy?

Having more than enough is the place where everyone wants to be. You will find staying there easier when you operate out of a generous heart. If you choose greed, it will always get you in the end, and not in a good way!

“Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” Paul in 2 Corinthians 9:6–7 (NIV)

Final thoughts

Most of us experience each state of sufficiency at different times in life. These three states have many lessons to teach us. These lessons contain the potential to improve our lives if we learn them and put them to use. They can bring us a full life filled with joy.

You can apply the three stages of sufficiency to many individual areas in your life, such as those mentioned earlier. Why not examine a few of them using this concept?

I leave you with the words of the man who provided the thoughts for this article. Heed his wisdom:

“A man with a surplus can control circumstances, but a man without a surplus is controlled by them, and often has no opportunity to exercise judgment.” Marshall Field (1835–1906)

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Bill Abbate Leadership Writer and Editor in ILLUMINATION

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