Ezekiel 47:²¹ So you shall divide this (promised) land among you according to the tribes of Israel. ²² You shall allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the aliens who reside among you and have begotten children among you. They shall be to you as citizens of Israel; with you they shall be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. ²³ In whatever tribe aliens reside, there you shall assign them their inheritance, says the Lord God. 

Interesting that, when the Israelites returned from exile, God directed that “aliens” living among them be included in the inheritance. More than that, “They shall be to you as citizens of Israel”. In a scarcity mindset this kind of command would meet resistance. There’s only so much land, why should we share it with those people? They’re taking what should rightfully belong to us! What if they grow in numbers and crowd us out?

But God directs Israel to respond in a mindset of abundance, not scarcity.

Abundance says that with God there is always enough. Besides, every thing we have is a gift from God in the first place. It doesn’t belong to “us” any more than it belongs to “them”. It all belongs to God. I wonder how this kind of thinking might inform how we see our world today? Lord, give us grace us to think more like you. Amen.