Stop Squandering, Start Scattering

Grow Again | Are you wasting God’s gifts, or planting them for a harvest that lasts?

“Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.”

Luke 15:13 NIV

Don’t you love it when the Holy Spirit takes a story that is oh-so-familiar to you in the Bible and breathes fresh insight into it? Yeah, me too. I was working through Day 9 of 31 Days of Beginning Again in preparation for January — yes, shameless plug, details at the end — and one word jumped off the page at me.

Squandered.

Instantly, I wondered: Am I squandering the inheritance, the gifts, the good things that my Father has given me? How am I spending my inheritance?

Cue squirrel-search for the meaning of squandered in the original language. Now, I am no scholar of Biblical languages, but I do know how to work my way around BibleHub.com. And it reliably informs me the Greek word here is diaskorpizó, which can be translated as ‘widely scatter’ or ‘disperse greatly.’

Friends, we know that our heavenly Father is the giver of good gifts (James 1:17). He has an abundance for us. He is not limited in the wealth of goodness that He wants to pour into our lives. Yet, what are we doing with them? Are they lying dormant, or even worse, hidden, unable to bring forth a yield aka the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30)?

When the third servant says that he knows his master reaps where he didn’t sow and gathers ‘where you scattered no seed’ (v.24), it is this same word, diaskorpizó.

What’s the link?

It’s this: squandering is scattering without intention, scattering without purpose. It’s the younger son spending his inheritance on ‘wild living’, the servant burying his talent out of fear, keeping what was meant to grow dormant.

And yet, there’s also a good scattering.

I have had a whole thing with Jesus this entire year all about throwing, sowing, scattering the seed. I even had a whoop-di-doop moment last week when I rediscovered Mark 4:26-29 and read about the man who ‘scatters seed on the ground’ (v.26) and how it ‘sprouts and grows, though he does not know how’ (v.27) leading to a great harvest. This ‘scattering’ comes from the Greek balló which means to ‘throw, cast, put, or place’. This scattering is purposeful, full of faith, yielding fruit beyond the sower’s understanding.

So . . . in a couple of passages scattering is bad — aimless, careless, squandered. Sown into soil that was not ready to receive it. Wasted. And in another, it is good — intentional, fruitful, Spirit-led.

How do we know if we’re squandering or scattering the good things the Father has given us?

The final thought I want to leave you with from my time in Luke 15 is this. Near the beginning of the parable the younger son says to his Father, ‘Give me . . .’ (v.12). He wants his inheritance for himself but when he comes to his senses, literally, ‘comes back to himself,’ becomes his true self (i.e. remembers who his Father is), he determines to go back to the Father and say, ‘Make me . . .’ (v.15).

Make me a hired servant, one who could be dismissed after only a day. Make me whatever you want me to be.

Give Me → Make Me

And that’s it. That’s the pivot from squandered to scattered, from aimless to intentional. One is about our desires, our purposes, our sense of gain. The shift from ‘Give me’ to ‘Make me’ is the heart of growth: surrendering our control, offering our gifts, our time, our energy, our talents, back to Him, and letting Him decide how they bear fruit.

When we scatter with intention, guided by the Spirit, our resources — time, talent, love, even failures — become a harvest, not a loss. We don’t just survive, we grow again.

So here are some questions for us to ponder and grapple with. I’d love to know your thoughts:

Are you scattering or squandering what God has given you?

Are you holding onto His gifts for your own purposes, or are you, palms-open, offering it all back?

What does ‘Make me’ look like in your life this week?

Father, thank You for the gifts, opportunities, and abundance You have placed in my life. Forgive me for the ways I have squandered what You have given, and teach me to scatter with intention, to surrender my plans and fears, and to offer my life fully to You. Shift my heart from “Give me” to “Make me,” and use even the smallest seeds I place in Your hands to bear fruit, bring growth, and glorify Your name. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

If this resonated: come join us for 31 Days of Beginning Again this January. Together, we’ll create space to hear His voice, scatter with intention, and step into the good He wants to grow in and through us.

You can get your copy here:

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And if you don’t want to go it alone, you don’t have to.

When you’ve got your copy, come join us in the private Facebook group:

Let’s be believers who keep scattering, again and again!

Em 💛

P.S. And because I couldn’t wait until January to start, I made a little quiz to help you find out where the power of ‘again’ might bless you, right now. Perhaps God is inviting you to begin again, believe again, grow again, or go again. Let’s find out!

You can take it here →

I think you’ll love it (who doesn’t love a quiz?!).

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