Some of the fullest homes are very small. Two bedrooms for six people. A kitchen where only one person can stand at the stove. A living room that is also a dining room, a homework room and, on Friday nights, a bedroom for a visiting cousin. The paint is tired and the furniture does not match. And yet, if you sit on that verandah on a Sunday afternoon, with the dominoes slapping on the table and someone’s grandmother telling the same story for the twentieth time, you might think: this is what life is supposed to feel like.
There are also large houses that feel very empty.
Two sayings about abundance
Jesus says two things about abundance that are worth hearing side by side. In John’s Gospel: “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10, KJV). In Luke’s, speaking to a man who wanted Jesus to settle an inheritance dispute with his brother: “Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth” (Luke 12:15, KJV).
Jesus promises abundant life. He also says, very plainly, that abundant life is not the same as abundant things. The two can overlap, but they are not identical, and confusing them is one of the most common mistakes a household can make.
The bigger-house trap
The man in Luke’s story was arguing about land. Jesus answers with a parable about a rich farmer whose harvest is so large that he decides to tear down his barns and build bigger ones. He plans to sit back and enjoy it all. That night, God tells him his life is over, and asks who will get everything he has stored up.
Most of us are not planning bigger barns. But many of us know the feeling of believing that life will really begin when we have the next thing. The extra bedroom. The finished upstairs. The house in the better neighbourhood. The day the mortgage is paid off. Some of those are wise goals. The danger is when we put our lives on hold for them, working so hard for the bigger house that we are never home in the one we have.
What abundance actually looks like
If abundant life is not measured in square feet, how is it measured? Scripture’s answer seems to be something like this: in relationship with God, and in the love that flows from it to others. A modest house can be abundant in all the ways that matter:
- Abundant in welcome. There is always room for one more at the table, even if it means sitting on the step.
- Abundant in presence. Parents who are home in the evenings because they chose a smaller mortgage over a longer commute.
- Abundant in peace. A family that is not lying awake over repayments it cannot manage.
- Abundant in generosity. A household that, not being stretched to the limit, can help a neighbour in need.
- Abundant in prayer and praise. A home where God is spoken to, and thanked, in ordinary moments.
New life, not a new house
Paul writes that “if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17, KJV). It is tempting to picture this as a full renovation, the old house knocked down and a new one built in its place. In a sense, it is. But the newness Paul describes is mostly on the inside. It shows up in how we treat each other, what we want, and how we spend what we have.
A family can live in exactly the same small house for thirty years and still be made new over and over again: learning to forgive, learning to give, learning to be content. That kind of renewal does not need a building permit.
Wanting more, rightly
None of this means it is wrong to want a larger home, or to work towards one. A growing family needs space. An ageing parent may need a ground-floor room. Wanting to provide well is good. The question is whether the wanting has become the whole of life, or whether it sits within a life already full of good things.
For reflection
- What does abundance look like in your home right now, apart from possessions?
- Is there a “bigger barn” you have been building that has cost you time with the people you love?
Lord Jesus, You came to give us life, and life in abundance. Keep us from mistaking more things for more life. Fill our homes, whatever their size, with Your welcome, peace and generosity, and make us new from the inside. Amen.
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