God wants you to develop an abundance mentality.

In the early nineteenth century, the Rev. Thomas Malthus argued that “population tends to increase faster than the supply of food available for its needs.” Consequently, human beings face a perpetual shortfall of necessities and must act with a scarcity mentality, focusing on how to increase their slice of a limited pie. Malthus’s argument influenced Charles Darwin and his followers, the latter of whom especially saw life as a struggle between species over limited resources in which only the fittest survived.

The abundance mentality is the exact opposite of this scarcity mentality. It begins with the assumption that there is an abundance of earthly goods to be enjoyed by all people, rather than a scarcity to be snatched up by a fortunate few. Rather than selfishly hoarding goods, a person with an abundance mentality selflessly shares them with others who are in need. And a person with an abundance mentality is generous precisely because he knows that one day he may have need too.

In Ecclesiastes 11:1–6, the Preacher extols the many virtues of the abundance mentality using this arresting image. “Cast your bread upon the waters,” he exhorts us, “for you will find it after many days.” Be promiscuously generous, in other words, for by doing so, you will be treated generously in turn.

Now, such a motivation to generosity may seem selfish, as if your altruism is really egoism, as if by helping others you help yourself. Well, yes, that is the case. And so what! God wants us to be generous to others with the blessings he has given us. If we reap generosity in return, I do not think he minds too much. The main thing is that we are channeling his blessings to others through our gifts. Or rather, through his gifts.

By acting generously toward others, you see, we create a community of sharing and goodwill that will stand us in good stead during difficult days. Notice that the Preacher emphasizes our ignorance and the uncertainty of the future: “you know not what disaster may happen on earth,” “you do not know the work of God who makes everything,” and “you do not know which will propser, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.” We neither know nor control the future, but we can still act in the present to create a beloved community in which generosity and kindness to the less fortunate prevail.

So, develop an abundance mentality, and give generously. Such gifts have the habit of returning to their sender.