You’ve seen the meme. Three bags of chips, three labels:
Optimist — the bag is half full. Pessimist — the bag is half empty. Chip Maker — the bag is full.
We laughed. Then some of us paused for slightly too long, because this is also a perfect explanation of how us Christians experience God’s provision.
The Optimist: Bless Your Heart
The Optimist Christian is a beautiful creature who has a verse for everything. We’re genuinely convinced that something is coming, something is shifting, this is actually the best season for growth, and God is not mad at you or your half-empty bag.
We look at what we have and call it abundance. And while this is technically correct, it’s also occasionally maddening to our friends.
Still, scripture backs us. Paul wrote about learning contentment from a prison cell. If he can manage half a bag while chained to a Roman soldier, you can manage yours.
Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Philippians 4:11-13, KJV
The Pessimist: Valid, But Let’s Talk
The Pessimist Christian is also a real person in the pew. They aren’t faithless; they are experienced. They have watched the bag get opened, had their hopes raised, and then counted the chips.
They bring their real feelings to God, which is actually more scriptural than we give them credit for. The Psalms aren’t a wellness podcast. David went from “You are my fortress” (Psalm 31:3) to “Why have You forgotten me?” (Psalm 31:22) in the same chapter. He was still considered a man after God’s own heart.
God can handle your chip count, is what I’m saying.
After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’
Acts 13:22, NIV
The Chip Maker: This Is God
This is the uncomfortable one. The Chip Maker aka Our Heavenly Father, labelled the bag full. There is air in the bag and there are fewer chips than you expected. The packaging was technically not lying — the bag is full. Of air, mostly. But full.
God’s definition of provision and our definition of provision will occasionally require a conversation. (These usually occur on your knees in the middle of the night, or quite often lying in bed staring at the fan.)
He promised to supply all our needs according to His riches in glory — not according to our projected quarterly budget. Philippians 4:19 is real, but so is the verse immediately before it, which tells us to think on what is true, honourable, and good. Not to perform an audit of what’s missing.
The bag is full. We just have to recalibrate what full means.
The Actual Takeaway (And It’s Not Crumbs)
All three positions have something in them:
The Optimist is practising gratitude before the evidence arrives. That is called faith, and it is worth developing. Hebrews 11 comes to mind. The entire history of the Jewish people stated there starts with “By Faith”, because it’s definitely not by anything else these miracles would have occurred.
The Pessimist is being honest, which is the beginning of every real conversation with God. Pretending the bag isn’t half empty doesn’t fill it faster, and maybe their conversing together will lead them to new revelations about what Abba wants them to change.
The Chip Maker — God — is working with a definition of enough and full that is rooted in eternity, not the current snack situation, nor the current human crises of life or money or relationships or other situations.
Somewhere between the being the optimist and the pessimist is where most of us actually live; half grateful, half honest, occasionally confused about the packaging. But He’s still the one who fills the bag.
Looking for something to read while you finish your chips? Try Genesis Bible jokes, or a proper look at what happens when you trust God for the long game.
