Expansive: A 5-Day Plan to Break Free From Scarcity and Embrace God’s AbundanceSample

I live by the Pacific Ocean. Most days, I can see it from my house, and I’m often stopped in my tracks by its sheer vastness. I walk the beach with my dog, watching the waves crash ferociously onto the sand—again and again—never tiring. Some days, I pause and scan the horizon, where the sea and sky blur, and my thoughts drift to God’s love—His far-reaching, all-embracing love. I let the breadth of the ocean remind me that I’m surrounded by a love that never fails.

But then on other days, I notice how easily my mind can shift toward doubt—wondering if God still loves me. In the midst of failure, sin, or in seasons where God feels distant, does He still move toward me in love? Maybe you know those days too. In some of our lowest points, a voice can creep in—it tells us we’ve messed up too much, that we’re too broken, too much, too inconsistent. It’s a voice rooted in scarcity, the fear that God’s love has limits. That maybe, this time, there won’t be enough and we’ve run out of chances.

When we talk about God's love, it’s possible you know all the right answers. You’ve heard sermons, read Scripture, or can recall stories as a child about how much God loves you. It can all sound overly familiar. And yet, even with the right answers, you may find yourself questioning if it’s true. How far does God’s love really stretch?

For me, it’s in moments when I feel distant from God—perhaps in a busy season, when I’m preoccupied or overwhelmed. I can start to believe that God is drifting away from me. Maybe He's realized that I’m too inconsistent in my affection, too easily distracted or discouraged. And in those moments, I wonder if He too starts to pull back—withholding His love or His attention, just like we do in human relationships. Isn’t that how we often are to one another? We withdraw our love when we feel disappointed or notice the other slipping away. We pull back, ration our affection and guard ourselves. This is a familiar human experience, and one we often project onto God. Presuming that He too had grown tired of offering unlimited grace.

In Ephesians 3, the Apostle Paul uses spatial language to declare that the love of God is wide, long, high and deep. You can almost feel it stretching, as if Paul wants you to know this isn’t a love to merely talk about or read about, but a love to be experienced. A love to dwell in. A love to get lost in. A love within which, every way you turn, there is no wall, no limit and no boundary.

There is no part of you—no facet of your being—that is too hidden, broken, or hardened to be reached by God’s love. We are not on the outside looking in. We are not exceptions to the rule. We are loved. Period. No mistake, no failure, no sin, and no season of distance can change that. There is nothing that disqualifies you from the love of Christ.

On days when I doubt, I return to the ocean image. Like the tide that refuses to stop reaching for the shore, His love keeps coming for us—not once, not occasionally, but relentlessly. On our good days, and on the days we feel the most unlovable, God never withholds His love. It’s not portioned out according to our behavior, effort, or performance. It overflows—seeping into the cracks and margins of our lives, reminding us that we are deeply known and still deeply loved. And there is no amount of drifting, distraction or doubt that causes God to pull back and withhold His affection. In any given moment, we can look toward Him with a glance of our attention, and we will find that He has been looking for us all along. He has been reaching out His outstretched arms—as He once did on the cross—calling us back to intimacy and an experience of His love for us.

Don’t believe the lie of scarcity that you’re too far gone or too lost. Don’t entertain the idea that you’ve hit the boundary line of His loving kindness, run out of grace or been demoted in His affections. He is with you, for you and thinking loving thoughts towards you always. Even now, today, wherever you find yourself, He is running towards you with the extravagance and generosity of the Prodigal Son’s father. Don’t miss it. His love is expansive.

Prayer

God, thank You for Your boundary-breaking love that reaches me no matter where I am. Remind me today of the depth, the width, and the breadth of that love—not just as a truth to know, but a reality to experience. Help me to receive it fully, to rest in it deeply, and to allow myself to be seen and known by You. Even in the moments I feel unworthy or distant, draw me back into the safety of Your embrace. Let Your love be the loudest voice I hear today.

Amen.