Questions for Personal Reflection and Group Discussion:
Read Genesis 1:20-23, 29-30 (NIV):
And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day….
… 29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
- What do you notice here about God’s character and about his will for the world and for us?
- Despite the abundance that God provided humans, we often live with a scarcity mindset. Talk about what a scarcity mindset is and where you think it comes from.
- Talk about some stories in Scripture that show evidence of a scarcity mindset.
- What are some ways we see a scarcity mindset in our world today?
- Our country’s economic model is built on an assumption of scarcity rather than abundance. How does this impact our society?
- In contrast to a scarcity mindset, Robin Kimmerer (an indigenous botanist) describes a gift economy. “In a gift economy wealth is understood as having enough to share, and the practice for dealing with abundance is to give it away. In fact, status is determined not by how much one accumulates, but by how much one gives away. The currency in a gift economy is relationship, which is expressed as gratitude, as interdependence and the ongoing cycles of reciprocity. A gift economy nurtures the community bonds that enhance mutual well-being; the economic unit is ‘we’ rather than ‘I’, as all flourishing is mutual.” Kimmerer also quotes a hunter in one such community whose philosophy was, “I store my meat in the belly of my brother” rather than saving it for himself to use in the future.
What do you think of this way of living? Would this way of life be possible and wise for us today in our culture?
- What are some things that could help us (as Christ followers) to move away from a scarcity mindset toward an abundance mindset?
- What was God doing before he created our world? Why did God create the world and us?
- The God of the Bible ends the creation account by inviting humans to an abundant feast. Yet, in the face of his generous offer, we wanted the one thing that our host said was off limits. What is God’s strategy for getting us back to the table?
- What did you sense God saying to you through this passage and this message?
