There are many who know how to handle poverty who have never learned how to handle prosperity. Set them on top of a pinnacle, and their heads grow dizzy. They're ready to fall. The hard truth? Christians disgrace their faith far more often in good times than in bad.

Prosperity is dangerous. The crucible of adversity is a less severe trial to the Christian than the refining pot of prosperity. Oh, what leanness of soul and neglect of spiritual things have been brought on through the very mercies and bounties of God! Yet this spiritual poverty doesn't have to happen. Paul tells us he knew how to abound. When he had much, he knew what to do with it. Abundant grace gave him the strength to bear abundant prosperity. When his sails were full, he carried enough ballast to float safely.

It takes more than human skill to carry the brimming cup of mortal joy with a steady hand. But Paul had learned that divine skill. "In all things," he declares, "I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry." And make no mistake: knowing how to be full is a lesson from heaven. Remember the Israelites? They were full once. But while the flesh was still in their mouths, the wrath of God came upon them. How many have asked for mercies only to satisfy their own hearts' lust? Fullness of bread has often made fullness of blood, and that has brought on wantonness of spirit.

Here's what breaks my heart: when we have much of God's providential mercies, we often have little of God's grace. Little gratitude for the bounties we've received. We are full and we forget God. Satisfied with earth, we are content to do without heaven.

Rest assured: it is harder to know how to be full than it is to know how to be hungry—so desperate is the tendency of human nature to pride and forgetfulness of God. Take care that you ask in your prayers that God would teach you "how to be full." Let not the gifts His love bestows estrange your hearts from Him.