I shared my perspective as a pastoral leader when I received an invitation to a neighboring church in my community. I suppose there is a lot of things you could say about where my head and heart were in that moment. To put it mildly, there was no abundance in my mindset.

The way I thought about it, if another church planted in our neighborhood, that didn’t mean a bigger harvest for everyone—it meant a smaller harvest for me.

Notice what this perception implied about my view of God’s heart and His resources—namely that there were limits and lack. But this is not the perception that Jesus left with his disciples.

“My Father’s house has many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you…”

There’s plenty of space.

Plenty of rooms.

Plenty of everything.

Today, let’s reflect on how false perceptions of scarcity can impact our lives. Just like my initial reaction to a new church in my neighborhood. That church wasn’t my competition. Neither was my friend who was also writing a book. Or my other friend who was doing well in her business. We often mistakenly view others as competition rather than co-laborers in the Lord.