Prosperity in the Bible
I have read a few articles recently discussing biblical prosperity and I am just getting a little bit frustrated with the whole thing. On one side you have people who insist on being poor because they think that it is more righteous to do so and on the other I am finding some people so caught up in storing up treasures for themselves on earth, that they are missing God’s plan for their life.
As with a teeter-totter, or most things, it is difficult to stay balanced. It is easy to float to one extreme or the other. Maybe that is why there is so much division in the church over Biblical prosperity. Here are a few of my thoughts on the issue…
There is no denying that the Bible has a lot of verses about prospering.
People can debate all day long about it, but it is very clear in scripture that God took care of, blessed, prospered, his servants. You can pick just about anyone (servant of God) from the Bible and you will see examples of God’s blessing in their lives. Even Job ended up with twice as much as he started with!
Prosperity is not MONEY.
Prospering in a situation often has very little to do with money. It depends on what our need is at that moment. If my body is sick with a terrible disease, I can assure you my focus will not be on financial prosperity, but on my health prospering. Wouldn’t you?
Seek first the Kingdom.
Biblical prosperity is a result of seeking God – not stuff! It is futile, shortsighted, and foolish to try to store up treasures for ourselves on earth.
Matthew 6:19 (NASB)
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; “
Matthew 6:33
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
As a result of giving up all we have (our plans, our motives, our money) losing our lives, we find them like Jesus said…
Matthew 16:25
For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.
What I take from this verse is that, I can’t hold onto anything. I have to give it all to God. It is when we give up everything we have (not necessarily give it all away at that moment) but give up ownership of it and acknowledge that it all is for God’s purposes that we find our lives as Jesus mentioned.
It isn’t our money anyway
Once we give it all up and realize that we are merely stewards (see the Parable of the Talents)over what has been entrusted to us, it is easy to get our mind off our bank accounts. It is a lot easier to give someone else’s money away!. If God says to give, who are we to try to tell Him how to manage His money?
God did not put us down here to seek our own satisfaction.
If there is anything I have learned from walking with God is that He continues to teach me over and over to get my mind off of myself. When I am focused on ME, I am not as useful for HIM. We are all placed on this earth for a purpose. And I can assure you it is not to seek our own satisfaction. God takes care of all of his servants, but the thing to remember is that He is the only one we can trust to do it. If we put our trust in ourselves, we might as well be building a house on the sand.
The purpose for our financial prosperity is to bless others!
The Bible says that to whom much is given, much is required…
Luke 12:48
…From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.
I wholeheartedly believe that as our finances begin to increase, our giving should increase. As financial prospering takes place in our lives, it should be used to benefit the lives of others and not just build our own barns…
Luke 12:15-21
Then He said to them, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.” And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive. “And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ‘And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”‘ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ “So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
If we truly understand how God’s system works, we would want to spend every waking moment on this earth giving. We would not even think twice about giving our time, money, energy or anything else. God tells us to store up treasures in heaven – not on earth! He is saying this for OUR benefit because He knows that ultimately we will be far more blessed if we obey!
You can’t give what you don’t have
Personally, I want to give a whole lot of money away over the course of my lifetime. In order to do that, I think it is probably going to be sitting in a bank account of mine at some point. That doesn’t make it mine. It just means that at the moment, I am the steward who is responsible for it.
It really doesn’t matter whether we have a lot or a little. Our goal should be to give all we can, regardless of how much is in our bank accounts.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Yes, our treasure is definitely in Heaven. Great post!
The purpose for our financial prosperity is to bless others!
So what’s the purpose of our financial poverty? (I’m blessing my landlord with over half my income!)
Personally, I think one of the hardest things to reconcile as a Christian, is this whole concept and definition of “prosperity.”
When we look at Joseph (OT), for example…would you consider being almost killed, sold as a slave, and all the other trials as prosperity? Yet, Joseph himself accords it all to God as a blessing…. because it had a purpose!
But what about Job? No matter how you look at it, Job lost his children, and even after God “restores” Job, he still never got back all of those children that he loved. But still we look at this as “prospering” in Job’s life….. because it had a purpose.
Truly, God’s messages about prosperity get short-circuited by our own greed. We miss half the message. We hear “prosper” but don’t read “purpose” or “cost” into it.
Good post – thanks for the reminder !
@Joshua
I agree that it all is tied up in purpose. Personally, I think that prosperity is just a by-product of following after God with our whole heart – and as I have mentioned before, it really does have very little to do with money. Any mature human being will realize that the best things in life are NOT money.
Thank you for a beautiful article! Sometimes we need to be reminded that our security should always be in God and not in a job or a saving account!
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1 Corinthians 4
We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men. 10We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! 11To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. 12We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; 13when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.
14I am not writing this to shame you, but to warn you, as my dear children. 15Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.
6Therefore I urge you to imitate me.
Amen Bob…
This is a great look at prosperity through the lens of Scripture. Prosperity as defined by the world is very dangerous and will never end up with us pursuing God.
In my opinion, there are many very popular preachers these days preaching a very dangerous message regarding worldly prosperity and Christianity.
Thanks for the message here and the Scripture to provide the context.
Prosperity is a by-product of our commitment to God. However, there are spiritual principals in place that will work for or against us if we begin using them. Proverbs says that life and death are in the power of the tongue and those who use it will live by it. Say, as the Bible states that, ” I give and it is given back to me”. I recently lost my job and the first thing I thought was that I would have to stop sending my monthly gift of $50 to a particular ministry. Instead, God began speaking to my inner man saying to increase my giving to $200 monthly. I did, and was hired at the first place I applied.
I hate the prosperity gospel/theology/mode of thinking. Why do people assume that you will immediately gain some sort of prosperity as a legal right to following Christ?
There is no guarantee that you will have any prosperity other than Christ (Himself). Christ should be ULTIMATE prosperity…not a means in which you get prosperity.
I completely agree with P31Woman and her quotation of 1 Corinthians 4:1-6.
Not friends, family, money, time, health, happiness, spouse or ANYTHING can be compared. I count it as loss in comparison to the glory of Christ.
Christ is the sustainer…the Ultimate. Seek him, not to give you prosperity…but because HE IS PROSPERITY.
I hate the prosperity gospel because it takes the focus from Christ to something else.
Habukkuk 3
17Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:
18Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
Make Christ ultimate for the definition of prosperity, nothing else.