Does God Want You To Be Rich
That is the cover story for this week's issue of "Time" magazine. Very interesting article......pick it up at the news stand if you get a chance. One stat that really caught my attention was this one: In a Time poll, 61% of the Christians they surveyed said they believed God wants people to be prosperous. I find that hard to believe, but then again, should I?
Consumerism and materialism are the great idols of our society and culture, and I don't see too many Christians choosing a different path that would show a deeper mindset......an eternal one. Present company included.
Contrast that with this excerpt from "The Irresistible Revolution" by Shane Claiborne.
So I did a little survey, probing Christians about their (mis) conceptions of Jesus. It was fun just to see how many people think Jesus loved homosexuals or ate kosher. But I learned a striking thing from the survey. I asked participants who claimed to be "strong followers of Jesus" whether Jesus spent time with the poor. Nearly 80 percent said yes. Later in the survey, I asked this same group of strong followers whether they spent time with the poor, and less than 2 percent said they did. I learned a powerful lesson: We can admire and worship Jesus without doing what He did. We can applaud what He preached and stood for without caring about the same things. We can adore His cross without taking up ours. I had come to see that the great tragedy in the church is not that rich Christians do not care about the poor but that rich Christians do not KNOW the poor. When the worlds of poverty and wealth collide, the resulting powerful fusion can change the world. But that collision rarely happens. I could feel it happening inside of me. One of my punk-rock friends asked me why so many rich people like talking to me, and I said because I'm nice to them. He asked me why I was nice to them. I said because I can see myself in them. That gives me a little patience and grace. I long for the Calcutta slums to meet the Chicago suburbs, for lepers to meet landowners and for each to see God's image in the other. It's no wonder that the footsteps of Jesus lead from the tax collectors to the lepers. I truly believe that when the poor meet the rich, riches will have no meaning. And when the rich meet the poor, we will see poverty come to an end.
If you don't have this book on your night stand, you should run out and get it...............TODAY.
15 Comments:
Many Christians have more TBN network than the word of God. My standard question to those who buy into the gospel of prosperity is this. "Tell me, what did Jesus do wrong?"
One possible reason Jesus was so involved with the poor is that He was poor. (measured by earthly standards). I don't find any indication that any of the principal figures in the church of the first century had any notable prosperity. Peter's reply to a person was "silver and gold have I none.."
These Bible characters of the early church did not understand that they should be riding in the best chariots, own houses and land and much cattle. TBN and it's host of prosperity preachers was several centuries ahead.
Finally, the teaching of Jesus about the difficulty of rich men going to heaven compared to a camel going through a very small gate is telling. It is dangerously tempting for a rich man to trust his riches rather than God.
The greatest problem i see with this discussion and trying to do this thang right is that "rich" and "poor" are relative terms. Is there an absolute standard by which we can judge our motives and actions which does not rely on subjective language? I think so.
Don has a good point--wealth is relative (at least somewhat).
I saw that magazine on the newstand yesterday and I do want it.
I really think there are lots of Christians that believe God wants them rich--and I am so convicted about Jesus working with the poor--yet how much of my time do I?? That just shot right through my heart!
Hello David and all,
RE: "Does God want you to be rich?"
How about, does the Creator want some people to suffer and starve while some wallow in luxury and ignore the plight of others? What about "serving mammon" (money and materialism) instead of truth, justice, and your fellow souls? How about the rich man and the eye of a needle? Talking about the blind leading the blind...
To take this a step further, what would the Creator say about forming organizations (corporations, religions, governments, political parties, etc.) that accumulate vast wealth and resources while living people and other lifeforms suffer as the direct result? What does this say about the complete hypocrisy of all religions?
Here's some pivotal knowledge (wisdom) so people can stop focusing on symptoms and obfuscatory details and home in like a laser on the root causes of and solutions to humanity's seemingly never-ending struggles.
Money is the lifeblood of the powerful and the chains and key to human enslavement
There is a radical and highly effective solution to all of our economic problems that will dramatically simplify, streamline, and revitalize human civilization. It will eliminate all poverty, debt, and the vast majority of crime, material inequality, deception, and injustice. It will also eliminate the underlying causes of most conflicts, while preventing evil scoundrels and their cabals from deceiving, deluding, and bedeviling humanity, ever again. It will likewise eliminate the primary barriers to solving global warming, pollution, and the many evils that result from corporate greed and their control of natural and societal resources. That solution is to simply eliminate money from the human equation, thereby replacing the current system of greed, exploitation, and institutionalized coercion with freewill cooperation, just laws based on verifiable wisdom, and societal goals targeted at benefiting all, not just a self-chosen and abominably greedy few.
We can now thank millennia of political, monetary, and religious leaders for proving, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that top-down, hierarchical governance is absolute folly and foolishness. Even representative democracy, that great promise of the past, was easily and readily subverted to enslave us all, thanks to money and those that secretly control and deceptively manipulate all currencies and economies. Is there any doubt anymore that entrusting politics and money to solve humanity's problems is delusion of the highest order? Is there any doubt that permitting political and corporate leaders to control the lives of billions has resulted in great evil?
Here's a real hot potato! Eat it up, digest it, and then feed it's bones to the hungry...
Most people have no idea that the common-denominator math of all the world's currencies forms an endless loop that generates debt faster than we can ever generate the value to pay for it. This obscured and purposeful math-logic trap at the center of all banking, currencies, and economies is the root cause of poverty. Those who rule this world through fear and deception strive constantly to hide this fact, while pretending to seek solutions to poverty and human struggle. Any who would scoff at this analysis have simply failed to do the math, even though it is based on a simple common-denominator ratio.
Here is Wisdom
Doctrine of Two Spirits...
Peace...
Don, give us that language. Some have used the "relative terms" discussion to direct the focus away from the real issue. This is not rocket science. The disciples didn't ask Jesus to describe for them what "poor" was .....they knew what He meant. And WE know what He meant. All of us in the USA know we ARE rich when compared to most of humanity on this globe. That's not up for discussion.....because it is a fact.
Thanks for visiting SSH. The Reader's Digest version goes a long way on the "comments" section.
Dude, that's some of the most powerful stuff I've read in a while. Indicting but encouraging at the same time. Its kinda like watching an incredibly intense sporting event on TV and you are on the edge of your seat and suddenly, one of the players goes down with a serious injury. A calming, somewhat eery cloud suddenly encompasses you and your entire focus and perspective about life is shifted to the injured person's immediate need. The "game" means absolutely nothing now. You wait nervously as he is attended to, dreading the worst and hoping for the best at the same time. You are anxious to help and there is a sense of urgency about his need. You say a silent prayer for him. It is moments like these that we will have to initiate in the future in order to truely recognize the lost and the poor through the eyes of Jesus.
Thanks for sharing this book and his thoughts.
David-
This is great stuff. I really want to check this article out.
I truly believe that our overall unwillingness as followers of Jesus to lessen the gap between rich and poor is the number one problem of Christians in America today. This is huge. The problem is definite and significant and we choose to ignore it. All the while knowing that Jesus would have NEVER treated poor people the way that we do every day.
Check out my blog for a short snippet on this same topic:
www.chrisfield.blogspot.com
The standard, I believe, involves too much introspection for most of us. It is a matter of the heart, not of surplus or deficit of money. You can be either rich or poor and be materialistic; likewise, you can be rich or poor and not be. Truth is, most are materialistic (controlled, at least somewhat, by money) whether they are rich OR poor. "The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil."
This is why the discussion on Mike Cope's blog the other day was so full of folks saying "you can't win that game" when trying to say how much is too much, and could we give more to the poor.
You and I are in the position where we get to work with people who are generous in a way I will never be able to be as a result of being blessed greatly with material wealth. They are an inspiration to me, but I know they are the exception, and not the rule.
When we are able to look at others, deal with others, and respect others as people without even noticing their prosperity or lack of it, I think we will have gone a long way toward the goal.
My brother figure Don, I believe it is a heart matter also, in that our motivation comes from a heart that has been captured by Jesus. But like most other "heart" things(love, kindness, patience, mercy), they have an outward expression. An action. Of course, as you pointed out, we should look at all people with respect, and disregard their standard of wealth...rich or poor. But does it stop there? I hate to say it, but that is pretty convenient. Remember what James said: "Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him 'Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed', but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead".
I also believe you and I can be JUST as generous as the wonderful folks we get to work with on a daily basis. It wasn't a rich person who had given out of their abundance that Jesus pointed us to as an example of how to give......it was the poor widow with a penny.
Folks on Cope's blog the other day were trying to decide how much another person should do, or decide what they could have done instead of something else. I don't advocate that. I am saying we might try giving as much weight to Jesus's admonision "sell everything you have and give it to the poor" as we have him saying "you must be born again".
Mt:19:23: Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
This is not an idle statement, There are many who claim to believe in Christ, they just don't believe in what he stands for.
Annie, get in line! :) As you are walking towards the back of the line, look for me.........I am several thousand people in front of you.
Wow David,
Your blog attracts the compassionate, the concerned, the caring, the critical, the confused, Christ followers, and a communist!
I am continually amazed at how some people can complicate something so simple. Are we now living in a world, (and perhaps in the community of Christ) where everything is relative? Is there any absolutes? I will wager that the most uneducatated street bum in the state of Louisiana knows the difference between a rich person and a poor person.
Give me a break!
Grace and Peace,
Royce Ogle
"And who is my neighbor?" I ask, seeking to justify myself ....
Great thoughts David.
I believe Chrisitan should be concerned with the poor. We should do what we can to meet needs first and then preach them the gospel. That is how Jesus did it. It met needs, fed 5000 then taught, healed then taught, raised the dead, then taught. Are we meeting the needs of the poor? I believe that some churches are doing a great job with reaching out to the poor and down trodden. Other church could use work.
Thank you for making me think.
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2017.6.15
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