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Forgotten Christian Secrets of Prosperity

Prosperity Doctrine

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I admit that for most of my life I have been
inspired by the faith-filled message of
Christian preachers devoted to Christian prosperity Christian
Prosperity teaching or, as it is sometimes called, Prosperity
prosperity doctrine. Despite any personal
bias, however, my goal and yours must
Financial be to ruthlessly push aside personal Financial
Provision preferences and presumptions. No matter Provision
how uncomfortable it makes me, I must
continually seek to expand my mind and
Greed heart to embrace the staggering vastness of Greed
Gods full biblical revelation. Will you join me
on this journey? Will you stay if it takes some
Money unexpected turns? Money
The Bible says so much about finances that
although it is my habit to adorn webpages
with quotes from the eternal Word of God,
this time Ill lavish upon you an even higher
proportion of the Bibles priceless treasure.
To minimize your reading time I have pruned
each quote to make it as short as possible.
So although throughout this webpage, bold
italics indicate words I particularly want you
to note, the other words have been retained
only because they, too, are significant to the
point I wish you to see.

To cut through spiritual deception and

blindness to discover eternal truth, it is
essential that we get passionately serious
with God. So I urge you to make this
courageous prayer your own:

Precious Father,
I need you infinitely more than
anything else in the entire universe.
You are my joy, my love, my hope.
Only you are good and perfect. No
one has love and wisdom like you.

You have said, . . . broad is the road

that leads to destruction . . . But small
is the gate and narrow the road that
leads to life, and only a few find it
(Matthew 7:13-14). You alone offer
eternal life. Only you know what
awaits me beyond the grave and how
I must act to achieve the most good
and to maximize my eternal bliss.

May I never again be content with a

needlessly shallow understanding of
spiritual reality. Help me hunger and
 thirst after righteousness and be rid of
all the sin that so easily seduces and
deceives; grieving you and robbing
me of your best. May I die to self and
come alive to you. Give me the
courage and determination to pay
whatever price it takes to know you
and delight you as fully as any human
can. Help me break through fears,
biases and preconceptions to truly
hear from you.

Well start with a Scripture that unveils what

for some Christians has become a forgotten
factor in Christian prosperity and financial
provision. It seems mundane and yet the
Bible emphasizes it because the all-knowing
Lord sees it as significant:

Psalm 128:2 You will eat the fruit of

your labor; blessings and prosperity
will be yours.

Did you catch it or did it sneak past you?

You will eat the fruit of your labor . . . Even
with divine blessing, you still have to work.
Sadly, many of us are so out of touch with
biblical thinking that even the thought of
having to physically work for Gods blessing
seems unspiritual! To confirm that this verse
is not some biblical aberration, examine the
following:

Proverbs 24:33-34 A little sleep, a

little slumber, a little folding of the
hands to rest and poverty will come
on you like a bandit and scarcity like
an armed man.

Proverbs 13:4 The sluggard [the lazy

person] craves and gets nothing, but
the desires of the diligent [the person
who works hard and consistently] are
fully satisfied.

Proverbs 12:24 Diligent hands will

rule, but laziness ends in slave labor.

Proverbs 20:4 A sluggard does not

plow in season; so at harvest time he
looks but finds nothing.

Proverbs 23:21 for drunkards and

gluttons become poor, and
drowsiness clothes them in rags.

Consider this Scripture on divine provision:

Psalm 104:25-28 There is the sea,

vast and spacious, teeming with
creatures beyond number living
things both large and small. There the
ships go to and fro, and the leviathan,
which you formed to frolic there.
These all look to you to give them
 their food at the proper time. When
you give it to them, they gather it
up; when you open your hand, they
are satisfied with good things.

God provides but it still takes effort. The

principle applies even to the miraculous
provision of manna:

Exodus 16:14-18,22,26 When the

dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on
the ground appeared on the desert
floor. When the Israelites saw it, they
said to each other, What is it? For
they did not know what it was. Moses
said to them, It is the bread the
LORD has given you to eat. This is
what the LORD has commanded:
Each one is to gather as much as
he needs. Take an omer for each
person you have in your tent. The
Israelites did as they were told; some
gathered much, some little. And
when they measured it by the omer,
he who gathered much much did not
have too much, and he who gathered
much little did not have too little. Each
one gathered as much as he
needed. . . . On the sixth day, they
gathered much twice as much . . Six
days you are to gather it, but on
the seventh day, the Sabbath, there
will not be any.

Each Sabbath, no gathering of the manna

was permitted because gathering was work.

And dont for a moment imagine that New

Testament faith negates this spiritual
principle of divine provision requiring work on
behalf of the recipients. Read this carefully:

2 Thessalonians 3:6-12 In the name

of the Lord Jesus Christ, we
command you, brothers, to keep away
from every brother who is idle and
does not live according to the
teaching you received from us. For
you yourselves know how you ought
to follow our example. We were not
idle when we were with you, nor did
we eat anyones food without paying
for it. On the contrary, we worked
night and day, laboring and toiling
so that we would not be a burden to
any of you. We did this, not because
we do not have the right to such help,
but in order to make ourselves a
model for you to follow. For even
when we were with you, we gave you
this rule: If a man will not work, he
shall not eat. We hear that some
among you are idle. They are not
busy; they are busybodies. Such
 people we command and urge in
the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down
and earn the bread they eat.

1 Corinthians 3:8 . . . each will be

rewarded according to his own labor.

Colossians 3:22-23 Slaves, obey

your earthly masters in everything;
and do it, not only when their eye is
on you and to win their favor, but with
sincerity of heart and reverence for
the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it
with all your heart, as working for
the Lord, not for men

As we will soon see, these Scriptures are but

a tiny fraction of the New Testament
emphasis on physical work. Faith is not a
way of avoiding hard work. What makes
Gods blessing different is not how hard
we must work but that without Gods
blessing our hard work ultimately ends
up wasted:

Deuteronomy 28:15,38-40 However,

if you do not obey the LORD your
God and do not carefully follow all his
commands . . . all these curses will
come upon you and overtake you: . . .
You will sow much seed in the field
but you will harvest little, because
locusts will devour it. You will plant
vineyards and cultivate them but you
will not drink the wine or gather the
grapes, because worms will eat them.
You will have olive trees throughout
your country but you will not use the
oil, because the olives will drop off.

Psalm 109:2,11 . . . wicked and

deceitful . . . may strangers plunder
the fruits of his labor.

Jeremiah 3:24,25 From our youth

shameful gods have consumed the
fruits of our fathers labor . . . We have
sinned against the LORD our God . . .

Jeremiah 51:58 This is what the

LORD Almighty says: Babylons thick
wall will be leveled and her high gates
set on fire; the peoples exhaust
themselves for nothing, the nations
labor is only fuel for the flames.

Habakkuk 2:13 Has not the LORD

Almighty determined that the peoples
labor is only fuel for the fire, that the
nations exhaust themselves for
nothing?

Haggai 1:6-7,9,11 . . . You earn

wages, only to put them in a purse
with holes in it. This is what the
 LORD Almighty says: Give careful
thought to your ways. . . . What you
brought home, I blew away. Why?
declares the LORD Almighty.
Because of my house, which
remains a ruin, while each of you is
busy with his own house. . . . I called
for a drought on the fields and the
mountains . . . and on the labor of
your hands.

A soft, lazy life is associated not with Gods

blessing but with his displeasure:

Matthew 25:26 . . . You wicked, lazy

servant! . . .

Titus 1:12 . . . Cretans are always

liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.

Hard work is an important aspect of

godliness:

Ephesians 4:28 He who has been

stealing must steal no longer, but
must work, doing something useful
with his own hands, that he may have
something to share with those in
need.

Acts 20:34 You yourselves know that

these hands of mine have supplied
my own needs and the needs of my
companions.

1 Corinthians 4:12 We work hard

with our own hands.

1 Thessalonians 2:9 Surely you

remember, brothers, our toil and
hardship; we worked night and day in
order not to be a burden to anyone
while we preached the gospel of God
to you.

1 Thessalonians 4:11 Make it your

ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind
your own business and to work with
your hands, just as we told you

Titus 3:14 Our people must learn to

devote themselves to doing what is
good, in order that they may provide
for daily necessities and not live
unproductive lives.

The Bibles ideal housewife works so hard

that you might need to rest up after merely
reading of all she crams into her long day:

Proverbs 31:10-27 A wife of noble

character who can find? She is worth
far more than rubies. . . .
She selects wool and flax and works
with eager hands.
 She is like the merchant ships,
bringing her food from afar.
She gets up while it is still dark;
she provides food for her family . . .
She considers a field and buys it; out
of her earnings she plants a
vineyard.
She sets about her work
vigorously; her arms are strong for
her tasks.
She sees that her trading is profitable,
and her lamp does not go out at
night .
In her hand she holds the distaff and
grasps the spindle with her fingers.
She opens her arms to the poor and
extends her hands to the needy. . . .
She makes coverings for her bed . . .
She makes linen garments and sells
them, and supplies the merchants
with sashes.
She is clothed with strength and
dignity . . .
She watches over the affairs of her
household and does not eat the
bread of idleness.

Heres a Scripture addressed to people in

houses that not only had no washing
machines, but no piped water; an era in
which families were large and there was not
only no cheap ready-made clothing but not
even access to sewing or weaving
machines:

1 Timothy 5:13-14 Besides, they get

into the habit of being idle and going
about from house to house. And not
only do they become idlers, but also
gossips and busybodies, saying
things they ought not to. So I counsel
younger widows to marry, to have
children, to manage their homes and
to give the enemy no opportunity for
slander.

In contrast to hardworking wives, Paul

writes:

1 Timothy 5:6 But the widow who

lives for pleasure is dead even while
she lives.

Get rich quick dreams and schemes lead not

to wealth but to poverty; not to contentment
but to an endless craving. They are a curse
that promises blessings but ends in regret:

Proverbs 20:21 An inheritance

quickly gained at the beginning will
not be blessed at the end.

Proverbs 28:8 He who increases his

 wealth by exorbitant interest amasses
it for another, who will be kind to the
poor.

Proverbs 28:19-20,22 He who works

his land will have abundant food, but
the one who chases fantasies will
have his fill of poverty. A faithful
man will be richly blessed, but one
eager to get rich will not go
unpunished. A stingy man is eager to
get rich and is unaware that poverty
awaits him.

Proverbs 13:11 Dishonest money

dwindles away, but he who gathers
money little by little makes it grow.

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The Second Secret

Lets unpack a second key to financial

peace. The Bible emphasizes it and yet,
even more than the first, it somehow slips
past most of todays Western Christians.
Well start with the obvious, however, before
moving to the road less travelled:

Proverbs 21:17 He who loves

pleasure will become poor; whoever
loves wine and oil will never be rich.

Proverbs 23:4 Do not wear yourself

out to get rich; have the wisdom to
show restraint.

Deuteronomy 5:21 You shall not

covet your neighbors wife. You shall
not set your desire on your neighbors
house or land, his manservant or
maidservant, his ox or donkey, or
anything that belongs to your
neighbor.

Luke 3:14 Then some soldiers asked

him, And what should we do? He
replied, Dont extort money and dont
accuse people falsely be content
with your pay.

1 Timothy 6:8 But if we have food

and clothing, we will be content with
that.

No matter how much he earns, anyone is

headed for poverty who fails to show
restraint but squanders his money on self-
indulgence. There are much deeper truths
than this, however, associated with being
content with less.

The great apostle of faith writes:

Philippians 4:11-12 . . . for I have

 learned to be content whatever the
circumstances. I know what it is to
be in need, and I know what it is to
have plenty. I have learned the
secret of being content in any and
every situation, whether well fed or
hungry, whether living in plenty or in
want

It is ironic that the highly popular Scripture, I

can do all things through Christ (King
James Version) refers primarily to what is
decidedly unpopular being content with an
empty stomach:

Philippians 4:12-13 . . . I have

learned the secret of being content in
any and every situation, whether well
fed or hungry, whether living in plenty
or in want. I can do everything
through him who gives me
strength.

It is also ironic or perhaps disturbing that

Paul mentions his being in want and even
hungry just before another oft-cited
Scripture:

Philippians 4:19 And my God will

meet all your needs according to his
glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

Actually, Paul refers to going hungry several

times in his writings:

1 Corinthians 4:11 To this very hour

we go hungry and thirsty, we are in
rags, we are brutally treated, we are
homeless.

2 Corinthians 6:4-5 Rather, as

servants of God we commend
ourselves in every way: in great
endurance; in troubles, hardships and
distresses; in beatings,
imprisonments and riots; in hard
work, sleepless nights and hunger

2 Corinthians 11:27 I have labored

and toiled and have often gone
without sleep; I have known hunger
and thirst and have often gone
without food; I have been cold and
naked.

He also says of himself and his companions:

2 Corinthians 6:9-10 . . . beaten,

and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet
always rejoicing; poor, yet making
many rich; having nothing, and yet
possessing everything.

It is easy to forget that so many early

Christians were slaves that:
 * Philemon was written solely
because of a Christian slave

* In Titus 2:9 a leader is guided as to

how to instruct Christian slaves

* 1 Corinthians 7:21-22, 1 Corinthians

12:13, Galatians 3:28, Ephesians 6:5-
8, Colossians 3:10-11, Colossians
3:22, and 1 Peter 2:18-25 were
specifically addressed to Christian
slaves.

Not only were slaves poor, they often

became slaves as a result of extreme
poverty. In fact, to be poor was normal in the
early church:

2 Corinthians 8:2 Out of the most

severe trial, their overflowing joy and
their extreme poverty welled up in
rich generosity.

Why were the Macedonian churches so

generous despite their extreme poverty?
Because they were giving to Christians who
were even poorer:

Romans 15:26 For Macedonia and

Achaia were pleased to make a
contribution for the poor among the
saints in Jerusalem.

Note that it was not some backwater church

that had impoverished members. This was
the mighty Jerusalem church of the book of
Acts; the church born out of the original
Pentecostal outpouring, complete with
tongues of fire and astounding miracles.

Paul did not regard these Christians in

Jerusalem as spiritually inferior because
they were deeply impoverished. On the
contrary, youll see above that even behind
their backs he called them saints Gods
holy ones and rather than supposing that
he could rectify the problem by preaching to
them about having faith for finances, he went
to extremes to collect money for them:

Galatians 2:10 All they [the apostles

in Jerusalem] asked was that we
should continue to remember the
poor [among the Jerusalem
Christians], the very thing I was eager
to do.

1 Corinthians 16:1-2 Now about the

collection for Gods people [in
Jerusalem]: Do what I told the
Galatian churches to do. On the first
day of every week, each one of you
should set aside a sum of money in
keeping with his income, saving it up,
so that when I come no collections
 will have to be made.

The inspired apostle considered this so

important that in 2 Corinthians he devoted
two entire chapters (eight and nine) to urging
his readers to give sacrificially to the poor in
Jerusalem.

Titus and another respected leader were

equally enthusiastic about this project:

2 Corinthians 8:17-21 For Titus not

only welcomed our appeal, but he is
coming to you with much enthusiasm
and on his own initiative. And we are
sending along with him the brother
who is praised by all the churches for
his service to the gospel. What is
more, he was chosen by the
churches to accompany us as we
carry the offering, which we
administer in order to honor the Lord
himself and to show our eagerness to
help. We want to avoid any criticism of
the way we administer this liberal gift.
For we are taking pains to do what is
right, not only in the eyes of the Lord
but also in the eyes of men.

You no doubt know that the whole saga of

Paul being arrested, imprisoned for years
and finally sent to Rome, began as a result
of him insisting on going to Jerusalem (Acts
21:10-14). Did you realize, however, that a
key reason why he was in Jerusalem was to
deliver the money he had raised for the
impoverished Christians there?

Romans 15:25-26 Now, however, I

am on my way to Jerusalem in the
service of the saints there. For
Macedonia and Achaia were pleased
to make a contribution for the poor
among the saints in Jerusalem.

Acts 24:17 After an absence of

several years, I came to Jerusalem to
bring my people gifts for the poor and
to present offerings.

And it was not just the Macedonian and the

Jerusalem Christians who were poor. Of the
church in Smyrna, the risen Lord said:

Revelation 2:9 I know your afflictions

and your poverty . . .

Most of the people James wrote to were

clearly poor:

James 2:2-5 Suppose a man comes

into your meeting wearing a gold ring
and fine clothes, and a poor man in
shabby clothes also comes in. If you
show special attention to the man
 wearing fine clothes . . . have you not
discriminated among yourselves and
become judges with evil thoughts?
. . . Has not God chosen those
who are poor in the eyes of the
world to be rich in faith . . . ?

Yes, rich in faith but still poor and the

context eliminates any chance of poor
referring to something other than material
poverty. By the way, how many of us are so
poor that we regard wearing a gold ring (a
wedding ring, for example) as a sign of
wealth?

Heres a hint at the extent of their poverty:

James 2:15-16 Suppose a

[Christian] 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?

We noted Paul seeing the impoverished

Christians in Jerusalem as needing practical
help, not faith teaching, to counter their
poverty. Now we see from the above quote
that James likewise saw the poor among the
Christians as not needing preaching or
spiritual words to escape their poverty but
material help.

Our Lord can send us soaring on spiritual

highs and thrilling faith adventures but he is
also disturbingly practical:

James 1:27 Pure religion and

undefiled before God and the Father
is this, To visit the fatherless and
widows in their affliction . . .

If our religion moves us merely to climb on

our soapboxes, we are nothing but clanging
cymbals (1 Corinthians 13:1). If we stop at
spouting doctrine or merely trying to look
holy, rather than rolling up our sleeves
and/or emptying our pockets, we are
probably fake.

Paul bursts false spirituality with the ease of

a pin through a balloon. The following could
hardly be worded any stronger:

1 Timothy 5:8 If anyone does not

provide for his relatives, and
especially for his immediate family, he
has denied the faith and is worse than
an unbeliever.

Of course, Jesus was the master at

shattering the hypocrisy that religion
inevitably attracts. For example:
 Matthew 15:3-6 Jesus replied, And
why do you break the command of
God for the sake of your tradition? For
God said, Honor your father and
mother and Anyone who curses his
father or mother must be put to death.
But you say that if a man says to his
father or mother, Whatever help you
might otherwise have received from
me is a gift devoted to God, he is not
to honor his father with it. Thus you
nullify the word of God for the sake of
your tradition.

Our Lord expects far more from us than just

prayer and preaching. Look at what
Scripture puts side by side:

Hebrews 13:15-16 Through Jesus,

therefore, let us continually offer to
God a sacrifice of praise the fruit of
lips that confess his name. And do not
forget to do good and to share with
others, for with such sacrifices God is
pleased.

God sees the highest spiritual worship and

the most practical physical help as belonging
together. It is as vital that they be
interconnected as it is for a cars engine and
wheels to interconnect. Anyone trying to
divide them is like the Priest and Levite in
Jesus parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke
10:30-32).

We love to rip the following out of context:

2 Corinthians 9:8-11 And God is able

to make all grace abound to you, so
that in all things at all times, having
all that you need, you will abound in
every good work. As it is written: He
[the righteous person] has scattered
abroad his gifts to the poor; his
righteousness endures forever. Now
he who supplies seed to the sower
and bread for food will also supply
and increase your store of seed and
will enlarge the harvest of your
righteousness. You will be made rich
in every way so that you can be
generous on every occasion . . .

Before getting too carried away with

expounding these verses, we need to realize
that this is in the middle of Pauls efforts to
raise money for the material needs of
Christians who, despite their faith, were so
poor that they needed a handout.

2 Corinthians 9:12 This service that

you perform is not only supplying the
needs of Gods people but is also
 overflowing in many expressions of
thanks to God [that is, the receivers
will be exceedingly grateful because
they need this financial help].

It is to our shame if we see dollar signs when

reading You will be made rich in every way.
Lets glance at that passage again, noting
how much the spiritual riches predominate:

2 Corinthians 9:8-11 And God is able

to make all grace abound to you, so
that in all things at all times, having all
that you need, you will abound in
every good work. As it is written: He
[the righteous person] has scattered
abroad his gifts to the poor; his
righteousness endures forever.
Now he who supplies seed to the
sower and bread for food will also
supply and increase your store of
seed and will enlarge the harvest of
your righteousness. You will be
made rich in every way so that you
can be generous on every
occasion . . .

We noted how James wrote of being rich,

not materially, but rich in faith. Jesus, too,
spoke of spiritual riches:

Luke 12:21 This is how it will be with

anyone who stores up things for
himself but is not rich toward God.

To the church in Smyrna, Jesus said that

although they were materially poor, they
were rich (Revelation 2:9). And Paul spoke
about being rich in good deeds (1 Timothy
6:18). Although it is less obvious in some
English versions, Paul speaks similarly in
this long passage about giving:

2 Corinthians 8:7 But just as you

excel [many versions say abound]
in everything in faith, in speech, in
knowledge, in complete earnestness
and in your love for us see that you
also excel [or abound] in this grace of
giving.

The word here translated excel refers to

having an abundance. The Bible sometimes
applies this Greek word materially and other
times spiritually. For example, Paul used this
same Greek word when he wrote I know
what it is to be in need, and I know what it is
to have plenty [many versions say
abound] (Philippians 4:12). So here Paul is
talking about abounding or being rich in faith,
love, generosity and so on.

As confirmed over and over in his writings,

Pauls heart is clearly for spiritual riches, not
material riches. Just a couple of chapters
earlier in 2 Corinthians he spoke of he and
his companions being poor [materially], yet
making many rich [spiritually]; having
nothing [materially], and yet possessing
everything [spiritually] (2 Corinthians 6:10).
It is vital that we crave a spiritual, not a
material, abundance. It is this that must
captivate our imagination and fill our waking
moments.

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Supernatural Joy

Let me share one of my favorite verses. It

highlights just how supernatural Pauls walk
with God was. In the same letter in which
Paul lists all the torture he had suffered, he
writes:

2 Corinthians 7:4 . . . in all our

troubles my joy knows no bounds.

What makes that verse so exciting is that if

Paul could so dramatically tap into the heart
of God, so can we if, like him, we pay the
price.

Face it: for someone living a soft life to be

joyful is hardly a powerful witness to the
reality of God, relative to Pauls testimony of
being content while hungry. He knew the
truth of this Scripture:

Psalms 4:7 You [God] have filled my

heart with greater joy than when their
grain and new wine abound.

Psalms 63:4-6,8 I will praise you as

long as I live, and in your name I will
lift up my hands. My soul will be
satisfied as with [not with but as
with] the richest of foods; with
singing lips my mouth will praise
you. . . . I think of you through the
watches of the night. . . . My soul
clings to you . . .

Lets drill deeper into Pauls declaration of

contentment:

Philippians 4:12 . . . I have learned

the secret of being content in any and
every situation . . .

This contentment, says Paul, is something

he had to learn. It did not magically fall into
his lap. Like learning to walk, we can expect
reaching this degree of contentment to take
deliberate, prolonged effort.

Pauls contentment hinged on his spiritual

union with Christ:
 Philippians 4:12-13 . . . I have
learned the secret of being
content . . . whether . . . hungry . . . or
in want. I can do everything through
him who gives me strength.

For this level of contentment we must

discover how to draw deeply from our
relationship with God:

Hebrews 13:5 Keep your lives free

from the love of money and be
content with what you have because
God has said, Never will I leave
you; never will I forsake you.

If such contentment were something that

automatically comes upon Christians, not
only would Paul have not had to learn it,
there would have been no need for this
instruction. This contentment is something
that one has to work at. One has to
deliberately stir oneself up to delight in God.

Habakkuk 3:17-18 Though the fig

tree does not bud and there are no
grapes on the vines, though the olive
crop fails and the fields produce no
food, though there are no sheep in
the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet
I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be
joyful in God my Savior.

Job 1:21 [After losing all his children

and all his possessions, Job] said:
Naked I came from my mothers
womb, and naked I will depart. The
LORD gave and the LORD has taken
away; may the name of the LORD be
praised.

Deuteronomy 12:18 . . . you are to

rejoice before the LORD your God in
everything you put your hand to.

Psalm 34:1 . . . I will extol the LORD

at all times; his praise will always be
on my lips.

Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord

always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

The fulfillment that comes from rejoicing in

God empowers us to put into practice such
Scriptures as:

Romans 5:2-3 . . . And we rejoice in

the hope of the glory of God. Not only
so, but we also rejoice in our
sufferings . . .

James 1:2 Consider it pure joy, my

brothers, whenever you face trials of
many kinds
 1 Peter 4:13 But rejoice that you
participate in the sufferings of Christ,
so that you may be overjoyed when
his glory is revealed.

An important aspect of finding contentment

is to foster a spirit of thankfulness. There is
much truth in the old hymn Count your
blessings . . . and it will surprise you what
the Lord has done.

Ephesians 5:20 always giving thanks

to God the Father for everything, in
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Colossians 1:10-12 . . . growing in

the knowledge of God, being
strengthened with all power according
to his glorious might so that you may
have great endurance and patience,
and joyfully giving thanks to the
Father . . .

Colossians 2:6-7 So then, just as

you received Christ Jesus as Lord,
continue to live in him, rooted and
built up in him, strengthened in the
faith as you were taught, and
overflowing with thankfulness.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 give thanks in

all circumstances, for this is Gods will
for you in Christ Jesus.

A thankful person is a happy person. An

envious person torments himself with
needless misery.

Our fallen nature is such that we find it

easier to be grumpy about what we dont
have than to be grateful for what we have. To
rise above this degradation is a continual
challenge. The more we praise God,
however, the more he will praise us.

Will we choose to delight in what God has

given us or grizzle about what he has not
given us? This is a far more serious matter
than many of us realize:

Numbers 11:4-6,10,18-20,33-34 . . .
the Israelites started wailing and said,
If only we had meat to eat! We
remember the fish we ate in Egypt at
no cost also the cucumbers,
melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But
now we have lost our appetite; we
never see anything but this manna!
. . . Moses heard the people of every
family wailing, each at the entrance to
his tent. The LORD became
exceedingly angry . . . Tell the
people: . . . Now the LORD will give
you meat, and you will eat it. . . . for a
whole month until it comes out of
 your nostrils and you loathe it . . .
. . . All that day and night and all the
next day the people went out and
gathered quail. . . . But while the meat
was still between their teeth and
before it could be consumed, the
anger of the LORD burned against
the people, and he struck them with a
severe plague. Therefore the place
was named Kibroth Hattaavah,
because there they buried the people
who had craved other food.

Gods provision was both miraculous and

ample. It delighted them for a while but,
instead of continuing to be grateful for Gods
provision, they began to grumble. Those
back in Egypt might not have had the
miracle, but they had a greater variety. The
Israelites griping initially seemed to pay off:
they were granted their wish. Dont be
envious of those who seem more blessed of
God, however, until you see the long-term
result. Sometimes you have to wait decades
or even until after death before it becomes
obvious, but in this case they did not have to
wait long to discover that being granted their
wish was a curse. Soon their belly aching
literally became a belly ache and it turned
deadly.

The New Testament emphasizes the

importance of this incident for us living under
the covenant of grace:

1 Corinthians 10:1,4-6, 10-12 For I

do not want you to be ignorant of the
fact, brothers, that our forefathers
were all under the cloud and that they
all passed through the sea . . . and
drank the same spiritual drink . . .
Nevertheless, God was not pleased
with most of them; their bodies were
scattered over the desert. Now these
things occurred as examples to
keep us from setting our hearts on
evil things as they did. . . . And do
not grumble, as some of them did
and were killed by the destroying
angel. These things happened to
them as examples and were written
down as warnings for us, on whom
the fulfillment of the ages has
come. So, if you think you are
standing firm, be careful that you
dont fall!

So we are to be grateful for Gods provision,

even when it is less than what we crave.

On the other hand, it is important not to think

God is stingy and/or settle for less than
Gods best. For the biblical balance we need
look no further than this:
 Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious
about anything, but in everything, by
prayer and petition, with
thanksgiving, present your requests
to God.

Here is one of the great killers of the joy that

thankfulness brings: it is hard to be thankful
for things we think we deserve.

What I am about to expound is not intended

to depress but to open our eyes to spiritual
reality and release us into the joy that
springs from gratefulness. If you were
healed of an illness, your degree of
gratefulness would depend on your
understanding of the seriousness of the
illness. Likewise, our appreciation of what
Christ did for us by his death hinges on how
much we understand the horror that his
sacrifice has saved us from.

Never in my life have I got what I deserved.

If people knew every detail of my life, I think
most would say I have lived a very moral
life. But that means less than a character
reference from the worlds greatest con-
artist. Like you, I have confirmed over and
over again that I deserve nothing less than
an eternity in hell. Any moment Im not in the
same torment as the rich man who begged
that the beggar dip the tip of his finger in
water and cool my tongue, because I am in
agony in this fire, (Luke 16:24) is yet
another moment in which I am not getting
what I deserve.

For any of us to think ourselves better than

someone else is to teeter on spiritual suicide:

Luke 18:11-14 The Pharisee stood up

and prayed about himself: God, I
thank you that I am not like other men
robbers, evildoers, adulterers or
even like this tax collector. I fast twice
a week and give a tenth of all I get.
But the tax collector stood at a
distance. He would not even look up
to heaven, but beat his breast and
said, God, have mercy on me, a
sinner.
I tell you that this man, rather
than the other, went home justified
before God. . . .

Heres another sobering Scripture that not

many frame and hang on their wall:

Luke 17:9-10 Would he thank the

servant because he did what he was
told to do? So you also, when you
have done everything you were told to
do, should say, We are unworthy
servants; we have only done our
 duty.

No matter how much we do for God we

could never work our way out of hell, let
alone deserve a reward.

For where I live in an average city in the

western world my income and possessions
are way below average. The millions who
have so much more might be no better than
me but I am no better than the billions of
people who have much less than me.

Im told that in the world as a whole:

* Rural areas account for three in

every four people suffering from
malnutrition, and yet even among
urban dwellers one out of three
(approximately a billion people) live in
slum conditions.

* Every night over a billion people go

to bed hungry.

* Three billion people have no

drinkable water within a kilometer
(over half a mile) of their homes, and
865 million people have no access at
all to safe drinking water.

* 2.5 billion people are forced to burn

wood, charcoal or animal dung for
cooking. The resulting indoor
pollution kills 4,000 people a day.

* Nearly a billion people are unable to

read a book or sign their names.

* In India, a typical middle class

person earns $2,500 a year and lives
in a tiny brick house with no running
water. Yes, thats considered middle
class, not poor.

For more, see World Poverty

Statistics

A pirate is said to have felt so bad about

having killed a man that he could not sleep
properly for days. Nevertheless, he kept
killing and reached the point where he could
murder someone, use the corpse as a pillow
and sleep soundly all night. We have been
surrounded by wrongdoing and personally
engaged in it so much that we have become
as hardened to our own forms of evil as that
pirate and we have a grossly inflated view of
ourselves.

In stark contrast to us, the Judge of all

humanity the Lord of heaven who keeps
our heart beating and seals our eternal fate
sees nothing through sin-clouded eyes.
The perfection of his holiness renders him
terrifyingly righteous in his judgments.

Heaven would lose its perfection if the

slightest trace of selfishness or any other
minor sin were introduced to it. Heaven
would end up corrupted like earth. Gods
righteous assessment is so flawlessly
accurate that the minimum standard he sets
for anyone to be worthy of heaven is
absolute perfection, not just occasionally, but
for the persons entire life from birth
onwards.

We so much recoil from the truth of our

depravity that we rarely contemplate the
implications of the reality that we were born
the product of a long line of evildoers, all of
whom, except for the mercy of God, should
have been annihilated long before having the
chance to reproduce. But Gods mercy
allowed them to breed, with the devastating
result that they passed on to their offspring a
genetic predisposition to wrongdoing. We
entered this world not with the pristine
holiness without which no one can see God
much less have spiritual union with him.
Instead we entered life with sins corruption
in our very genes, which we confirmed by
deliberately sinning the moment we were old
enough to know what we were doing. The
wages of just one sin is death and yet we
have sinned far too many times for us to
even count. Given our defiled nature, we
should have been wiped out like vermin the
instant we were conceived but, instead of
giving us what we deserve, God in Christ
endured the torment of the cross so that he
could shower us with his love.

We must resist the tendency to let the

intoxicating foolishness of pride delude us
as to who we are, without the utterly
undeserved mercy of God. Let us not, like
spoilt brats, take Christs enormous sacrifice
for granted.

It is mind-bogglingly true that, through

Christ, God has highly exalted us and in
other webpages I emphasize this but it is
entirely Gods grace and has never been
remotely our right or what we deserve.
Those who dare take Christs hand and
plunge deeply into this truth will reach levels
of joy and contentment that others know
nothing of. Each of us has more for which to
be thankful than our finite minds can
conceive.

$ $ $ $ $

Finding Joy

Lets look further at the early Christians

source of joy and its relationship to
possessions:

Hebrews 10:34 You . . . joyfully

accepted the confiscation of your
property . . .

How could they do that? The answer is in

the rest of the verse:

Hebrews 10:34 . . . because you

knew that you yourselves had better
and lasting possessions.

They achieved this by putting into practice

this important spiritual principle:

2 Corinthians 4:18 So we fix our

eyes not on what is seen, but on what
is unseen. For what is seen is
temporary, but what is unseen is
eternal.

Colossians 3:1-2 . . . set your hearts

on things above, where Christ is
seated at the right hand of God. Set
your minds on things above, not on
earthly things.

Rather than distract us from our earthly

mission, fixing our sights on heaven
empowers us to make the necessary
sacrifices to successfully complete our
earthly mission. It makes us like top athletes
who sacrifice so much because they are
focused on the honor of winning:

1 Corinthians 9:25-27 Everyone who

competes in the games goes into
strict training. They do it to get a
crown that will not last; but we do it to
get a crown that will last forever.
Therefore I do not run like a man
running aimlessly; I do not fight like a
man beating the air. No, I beat my
body and make it my slave so that
after I have preached to others, I
myself will not be disqualified for the
prize.

Put another way:

2 Timothy 2:3-4 Endure hardship

with us like a good soldier of Christ
Jesus. No one serving as a soldier
gets involved in civilian affairs . . .

Frontline soldiers sleep rough, eat rations

and face constant hardship without
expecting to be thanked for it. They do not
wear fashionable clothes or engage in their
own pursuits. The only ones living a soft life
are shame-faced deserters.

Likewise, elite athletes regularly embrace

pain and voluntarily deny themselves ease
and pleasures that most other people
indulge in. They do not complain because
their hope is fixed on the glory of winning.
Tragically, so many athletes sacrifice
enormously without ever achieving the
worldly fame and titles they had striven for.
And even the winners gain so little, relative
to spiritual achievers. In contrast to athletes,
you can Always give yourselves fully to the
work of the Lord, because you know that
your labor in the Lord is not in vain (1
Corinthians 15:58) and your reward is
endless and totally eclipses any sacrifice you
could ever make:

Romans 8:18 I consider that our

present sufferings are not worth
comparing with the glory that will be
revealed in us.

2 Corinthians 4:17 For our light and

momentary troubles are achieving for
us an eternal glory that far outweighs
them all.

Those who live as if earthly comfort is their

reward are to be pitied. Like couch potatoes
squandering their lives, those living the soft
life miss the excitement and achievement
and fulfillment of extending themselves to
the max. They are two-time losers: despite
their ease they get so little out of life on earth
and in addition they miss their heavenly
reward.

Romans 8:17 Now if we are children,

then we are heirs heirs of God and
co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we
share in his sufferings in order that
we may also share in his glory.

We are not in heaven yet. That simple fact

changes everything. We are on a relatively
short but critical special assignment to planet
Earth, just as the eternal Son of God once
was. As Jesus sacrificed everything to
rescue us, so we, despite our Christ-bought
status, must have the same attitude while
we are on this needy planet:

Philippians 2:5-8 Your attitude

should be the same as that of Christ
Jesus: Who, being in very nature
God, did not consider equality with
God something to be grasped, but
made himself nothing, taking the very
nature of a servant, being made in
human likeness. And being found in
appearance as a man, he humbled
himself and became obedient to
death even death on a cross!

Christians looking for a soft life in this age

are like firefighters partying while houses go
up in flames. Like want-to-be athletes who
think they can avoid the rigor and austerity of
training, they will make a laughing stock of
themselves on the Big Day.

Now that we have had a glimpse at how

profoundly setting our minds on things
above (Colossians 3:2) empowers our
earthly pilgrimage, lets return to that
passage. We dare not pluck it from its
context because the next verse is critical. It
reveals the driving force in keeping ones
mind fixed on heavenly things:

Colossians 3:3 For you died, and

your life is now hidden with Christ in
God.

Through spiritual union with their crucified

Lord and a deliberate daily dying to self they
had crucified their flesh with its spiritually
cancerous lusts for sensual pleasure and
material possessions.

Luke 9:23 Then he said to them all:

If anyone would come after me, he
must deny himself and take up his
cross daily and follow me.

Romans 6:5-6 If we have been

united with him like this in his death,
we will certainly also be united with
him in his resurrection. For we know
that our old self was crucified with him
so that the body of sin might be done
away with, that we should no longer
be slaves to sin

Romans 8:13 For if you live

according to the sinful nature, you will
die; but if by the Spirit you put to
death the misdeeds of the body, you
will live

Romans 13:14 Rather, clothe

yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ,
and do not think about how to gratify
the desires of the sinful nature.

2 Corinthians 5:15 And he died for

all, that those who live should no
longer live for themselves but for him
who died for them and was raised
again.

Galatians 5:24 Those who belong to

Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful
nature with its passions and desires.

Galatians 6:14 May I never boast

except in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ, through which the world has
been crucified to me, and I to the
world.
 Philippians 3:8 What is more, I
consider everything a loss compared
to the surpassing greatness of
knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for
whose sake I have lost all things. I
consider them rubbish, that I may
gain Christ

For most of my life, pursuing happiness has

been of little or no interest to me. Like a
soldier at war, I find the notion ridiculous. To
be honest, not even heavenly reward
matters to me. The thought of disappointing
God horrifies me, however. That would
break my heart. Id do anything to avoid that.
Ive tried to analyze what makes me tick so
that I could explain myself to you, but I guess
my attitude is simply a consequence of dying
to self. God, not me, is the love of my life. I
live for him, not me. In my case, what
brought this to a head was accepting Gods
challenge to live a lonely, celibate life for his
greater glory. I found the torment of being
single so unbearable that for much of my life,
had I been seeking my own comfort, I would
have eagerly chosen suicide. For me,
remaining unmarried seemed the greatest
sacrifice I could ever make. For Abraham,
the divinely ordained sacrifice was leaving
home to wander as an alien in a foreign
country and, later, resolutely preparing to
sacrifice his only son (Genesis 22:2). For
Old Testament prophets, it was embracing
unpopularity to life-threatening extremes. For
you, God will probably put his finger on
something else. Despite our individual
differences as to what most challenges God
as our greatest love, however, all of us must
die to self in order to live for God:

Luke 9:24 For whoever wants to save

his life will lose it, but whoever loses
his life for me will save it.

John 12:25 The man who loves his

life will lose it, while the man who
hates his life in this world will keep it
for eternal life.

Acts 20:24 However, I consider my

life worth nothing to me, if only I may
finish the race and complete the task
the Lord Jesus has given me . . .

Death to self sounds brutal and yet to many

of us this seems even worse:

Mark 10: 17,21 . . . Good teacher,

he asked, what must I do to inherit
eternal life? . . . Jesus looked at him
and loved him. One thing you lack,
he said. Go, sell everything you have
and give to the poor, and you will have
treasure in heaven. Then come,
 follow me.

Luke 12:33-34 Sell your possessions

and give to the poor. Provide purses
for yourselves that will not wear out, a
treasure in heaven that will not be
exhausted, where no thief comes
near and no moth destroys. For
where your treasure is, there your
heart will be also.

Luke 14:33 In the same way, any of

you who does not give up everything
he has cannot be my disciple.

Luke 16:9 I tell you, use worldly

wealth to gain friends for yourselves,
so that when it is gone, you will be
welcomed into eternal dwellings.

Luke 18:28 Peter said to him, We

have left all we had to follow you!

Luke 19:8-9 But Zacchaeus stood up

and said to the Lord, Look, Lord!
Here and now I give half of my
possessions to the poor, and if I have
cheated anybody out of anything, I
will pay back four times the amount.
Jesus said to him, Today salvation
has come to this house . . .

Matthew 6:19 Do not store up for

yourselves treasures on earth . . .

This terrifies us because we live under the

delusion that money can be relied on. Gods
Word seeks to torpedo this dangerous
fallacy:

Job 27:19 He lies down wealthy, but

will do so no more; when he opens
his eyes, all is gone.

Psalms 39:6 Man is a mere phantom

as he goes to and fro: He bustles
about, but only in vain; he heaps up
wealth, not knowing who will get it.

Proverbs 23:5 Cast but a glance at

riches, and they are gone, for they will
surely sprout wings and fly off to the
sky like an eagle.

Proverbs 27: 24 . . . riches do not

endure forever . . .

1 Timothy 6:17 Command those who

are rich in this present world not to be
arrogant nor to put their hope in
wealth, which is so uncertain, but to
put their hope in God . . .

James 1:10-11 But the one who is

rich should take pride in his low
 position, because he will pass away
like a wild flower. For the sun rises
with scorching heat and withers the
plant; its blossom falls and its beauty
is destroyed. In the same way, the
rich man will fade away even while he
goes about his business.

James 4:13-14 Now listen, you who

say, Today or tomorrow we will go to
this or that city, spend a year there,
carry on business and make money.
Why, you do not even know what will
happen tomorrow. What is your life?
You are a mist that appears for a little
while and then vanishes.

We are even enticed to suppose that riches

offer more security than Almighty God who
sacrificed everything so that we might live
eternally.

Psalms 62:10 . . . though your riches

increase, do not set your heart on
them.

Luke 12:29-31 And do not set your

heart on what you will eat or drink; do
not worry about it. For the pagan
world runs after all such things, and
your Father knows that you need
them. But seek his kingdom, and
these things will be given to you as
well.

Even the more spiritual of us are repeatedly

tempted to hedge our bets by trying to put
our faith and our delight in both God and
money. This is no more an option, however,
than reaching the moon while staying on
earth:

Luke 16:13-15 No servant can serve

two masters. Either he will hate the
one and love the other, or he will be
devoted to the one and despise the
other. You cannot serve both God
and Money. The Pharisees, who
loved money, heard all this and were
sneering at Jesus. He said to them,
You are the ones who justify
yourselves in the eyes of men, but
God knows your hearts. What is
highly valued among men is
detestable in Gods sight.

Mark 10:23-25 . . . How hard it is for

the rich to enter the kingdom of God!
The disciples were amazed at his
words. But Jesus said again,
Children, how hard it is to enter the
kingdom of God! It is easier for a
camel to go through the eye of a
needle than for a rich man to enter
 the kingdom of God.

To want both God and money as your

security and source of joy is like being in the
foolish and highly dangerous situation of
wanting to be saved but being too scared to
leave your sinking boat in order to board the
rescue ship.

Does the following shock you?

Job 31:24,25,28 If I have put my

trust in gold or said to pure gold,
You are my security, if I have
rejoiced over my great wealth . . .
then these also would be sins to be
judged, for I would have been
unfaithful to God on high.

Thats worth reading a second time.

Here are other Scriptures affirming this truth:

Psalms 49:5-6 . . . wicked deceivers

surround me those who trust in their
wealth and boast of their great riches

Psalms 52:5-7 Surely God will bring

you down to everlasting ruin . . . The
righteous will see and fear; they will
laugh at him, saying, Here now is the
man who did not make God his
stronghold but trusted in his great
wealth and grew strong by destroying
others!

Jeremiah 48:7 Since you trust in your

deeds and riches, you too will be
taken captive . . .

God provides the initially startling revelation

that greed is idolatry:

Ephesians 5:5 For of this you can be

sure: No immoral, impure or greedy
person such a man is an idolater
has any inheritance in the kingdom
of Christ and of God.

Colossians 3:5 Put to death,

therefore, whatever belongs to your
earthly nature: . . . evil desires and
greed, which is idolatry .

To keep wanting more and more material

things is to dethrone God in our hearts. It is
to strip him from being our Savior and
Protector and Joy, and instead worshiping
whatever objects we covet, foolishly hoping
that they will end up giving us more security
and lasting fulfillment than the Almighty Lord
whose love never fails.

Heres a similar Scripture about dethroning

God:
 Philippians 3:18-19 For, as I have
often told you before and now say
again even with tears, many live as
enemies of the cross of Christ. Their
destiny is destruction, their god is
their stomach, and their glory is in
their shame. Their mind is on earthly
things.

That is the fate of those who set their minds

not on things above, but on earthly things. It
is such a grave matter that Paul here refers
to them as enemies of the cross of Christ
whose destiny is destruction. Likewise,
Ephesians 5:5 (quoted above) emphasizes
that no greedy person has any inheritance
in the kingdom of Christ. Gods Word keeps
repeating this terrifying truth:

1 Corinthians 5:11 . . . you must not

associate with anyone who calls
himself a brother but is sexually
immoral or greedy, . . . With such a
man do not even eat.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 Do you not

know that the wicked will not inherit
the kingdom of God? Do not be
deceived: Neither . . . idolaters
nor . . . nor thieves nor the greedy
will inherit the kingdom of God.

Galatians 5:19-21 The acts of the

sinful nature are obvious: . . . selfish
ambition . . . envy . . . and the like. I
warn you, as I did before, that those
who live like this will not inherit the
kingdom of God.

Without exception, all of us end up being

ruled by whatever we most love. What
matters is not what we say we most love but
what we really love most. Unless our
greatest love is the eternal Lord of glory, who
alone is all-powerful and perfect in goodness
and wisdom and self-sacrificing love, what
we serve is inferior, with the result that our
efforts are not just wasted on the inferior but
our whole lives end up inferior. And since
only God is eternal, any efforts not devoted
to him end up squandered on things that are
decaying.

Isaiah 55:2 Why spend money . . .

and your labor on what does not
satisfy? . . .

1 John 2:15-17 Do not love the world

or anything in the world. If anyone
loves the world, the love of the Father
is not in him. For everything in the
world the cravings of sinful man, the
lust of his eyes and the boasting of
what he has and does comes not
 from the Father but from the world.
The world and its desires pass
away, but the man who does the will
of God lives forever.

Faith is about putting all our eggs in one

basket:

Matthew 13:44-46 The kingdom of

heaven is like treasure hidden in a
field. When a man found it, he hid it
again, and then in his joy went and
sold all he had and bought that field.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like

a merchant looking for fine pearls.
When he found one of great value, he
went away and sold everything he
had and bought it.

In the magnificent parable just cited, the

delighted discoverer did not reluctantly part
with his goods but in his joy sold
everything. He could barely contain his
excitement because he recognized the
vastly superior value of what he would gain.
All this planets riches combined are as dirt
compared with having as your best friend
the Almighty Lord, the endless source of
perfect love, wisdom and everything good,
beautiful and lasting. He totally eclipses
everything anyone could ever wish for. To
sacrifice everything for him is no sacrifice but
simply the best investment anyone could
ever make.

This is why the Hebrew Christians

responded joyfully to the confiscation of their
property and why we read:

Acts 5:40-41 They called the

apostles in and had them flogged. . . .
The apostles left the Sanhedrin,
rejoicing because they had been
counted worthy of suffering disgrace
for the Name.

We have all heard of insurance fraud in

which people happily see their lifes work
burn to the ground because the insurance
money is worth more to them than their loss.
Each of us is loved so extravagantly that
everything we desire is divinely over-
insured. We can lose nothing for the sake of
Christ without being so lavishly over-
compensated that every temporary loss no
matter how initially painful is reason for
wild celebration.

Matthew 5:11-12 Blessed are you

when people insult you, persecute
you and falsely say all kinds of evil
against you because of me. Rejoice
and be glad, because great is your
 reward in heaven . . .

Romans 8:17-18 Now if we are

children, then we are heirs heirs of
God and co-heirs with Christ, if
indeed we share in his sufferings in
order that we may also share in his
glory. I consider that our present
sufferings are not worth comparing
with the glory that will be revealed
in us.

2 Corinthians 4:17 For our light and

momentary troubles are achieving for
us an eternal glory that far outweighs
them all.

Anyone not learning to be content with

whatever he has (or does not have) is in
grave danger not only of enslaving himself to
debt but of becoming an addict, with an
endless craving eating away at his soul;
pathetically driven by the mirage that if only
he had a little more he could at last be
happy.

Proverbs 22:7 . . . the borrower is

servant to the lender.

Ecclesiastes 5:10 Whoever loves

money never has money enough;
whoever loves wealth is never
satisfied with his income. . . .

Isaiah 56:11 They are dogs with

mighty appetites; they never have
enough. . . .

In the parable of the sower, among the

things that can destroy a person spiritually,
Jesus mentions:

Mark 4:19 . . . the deceitfulness of

wealth and the desires for other
things . . .

Consumerism is a tragically appropriate

name: it consumes whoever it gets its claws
into. Lusting after objects or whatever one
imagines money might buy gnaws away at
ones soul, leaving each victim a hollowed
out shell of a person.

1 Timothy 6:9 People who want to

get rich fall into temptation and a trap
and into many foolish and harmful
desires that plunge men into ruin
and destruction.

Once the lie enters our heart that having a

few more things will bring us happiness, we
quickly degenerate. The devastating result is
more pathetic than a hungry donkey
reducing itself to a laughing stock by
ignoring plainer food to keep chasing a
carrot dangled in front of its nose until it
collapses in exhaustion and hunger. The
tragedy is that people waste not just a few
days or even their entire lives chasing an
illusion but end up ruined for all eternity.

When visitors from affluent countries meet

people in the third world living in hovels
made of scraps of plastic, cardboard and tin,
they often express amazement that these
people seem just as happy as those who
have so much more. We seldom pause to
consider that Jesus himself was homeless
and expected the same of his followers:

Luke 9:58 As they were walking

along the road, a man said to him, I
will follow you wherever you go.
Jesus replied, Foxes have holes and
birds of the air have nests, but the
Son of Man has no place to lay his
head.

Most of us even those who claim that the

spiritual is much more important are so
pitifully addicted to materialism that we are
like junkies continually fantasizing about the
next fix, unable to conceive of how anyone
could be happy without this enslaving habit.

Jesus zeros in on the folly of someone who

supposes he has finally arrived at the
happiness he imagines prosperity provides:

Luke 12:16-22 . . . The ground of a

certain rich man produced a good
crop. He thought to himself, . . . This
is what Ill do. I will tear down my
barns and build bigger ones, and
there I will store all my grain and my
goods. And Ill say to myself, You
have plenty of good things laid up for
many years. Take life easy; eat, drink
and be merry. But God said to him,
You fool! This very night your life will
be demanded from you. Then who will
get what you have prepared for
yourself?
This is how it will be with anyone
who stores up things for himself but is
not rich toward God.
Then Jesus said to his disciples:
Therefore I tell you, do not worry
about your life, what you will eat; or
about your body, what you will wear.
Life is more than food, and the body
more than clothes.

Let me put it this way:

When hopes of wealth fill your

dreams
And you think that to be rich is to be
blessed;
 When you bow in prayer for get-rich
schemes
And bet your life on the guess
That money will buy an end to regret
And insures against all fears,
And you think that to live is to get and
get
The glitter will fade, tarnished by
tears,
And the craving to get turns to regret;
The hoped-for blessing becomes a
curse.
In the end, still as a stone and equally
cold,
Youll lie in a hearse
With no room for your gold
And headed for things that can only
get worse.

$ $ $ $ $

You Have Not, Because You Ask Not

Heres a Scripture that is so tempting to

sever from its context:

James 4:2 . . . You do not have,

because you do not ask God.

Dont you love that? Heres our chance to

get more and more or is it? It certainly is
possible to miss out simply because lack of
faith in Gods willingness to provide keeps us
from asking God. Thats a danger we need
to avoid. Thats not the thrust of this
Scripture, however. Theres a more sinister
trap far more likely to ensnare Christians
living in affluent countries. Lets read more:

James 4:2-3 You want something but

dont get it. You kill and covet, but you
cannot have what you want. You
quarrel and fight. You do not have,
because you do not ask God. When
you ask, you do not receive, because
you ask with wrong motives, that you
may spend what you get on your
pleasures.

By, You kill, James had in mind the

perspective that moved John to say:

1 John 3:15 Anyone who hates his

brother is a murderer, and you know
that no murderer has eternal life in
him.

Near the beginning of his epistle, James said

we cannot expect answered prayer if we
waver in faith (James 1:5-8) but he was
referring to asking for something highly
spiritual godly wisdom (James 1:5;
3:13,17). Trying to entice God to answer
prayers to foster our selfishness, however, is
such a lost cause that, rather than suggest
more faith, James denounces the practice.

He continues his tirade against praying for

wrong things or with wrong motives:

James 4:4 You adulterous people,

dont you know that friendship with the
world is hatred toward God? Anyone
who chooses to be a friend of the
world becomes an enemy of God.

The next verse, as translated in the King

James Version and the New International
Version, initially seems strange:

James 4:5 Or do you think Scripture

says without reason that the spirit he
caused to live in us envies intensely?

This translation is reminiscent of what Paul

says:

Romans 1:28-29 Furthermore, since

they did not think it worthwhile to
retain the knowledge of God, he gave
them over to a depraved mind, to do
what ought not to be done. They have
become filled with every kind of
wickedness, evil, greed and
depravity. They are full of envy,
murder, strife, deceit and malice.

Interpreted in this light, James is saying that

we are all subject to an intense urge to envy.
How true that is! Our natural tendency is to
slide into the pit of regretting what we dont
have, rather than rejoicing in what we have.
Give Joe Average a hundred million dollars
and hed be over the moon with excitement
about how rich and blessed he is. Then give
ten billion dollars to hundreds of people
around him and it will not be long before,
regardless of his millions, he is feeling
deprived.

(There is an alternative interpretation of

James 4:5 but it leads to the same
understanding of what resist the devil
refers to.)

Despite our natural predisposition to be

driven by envy, however, James immediately
continues to explain that through Christ we
can live in victory over this insidious
temptation:

James 4:6-7 But he gives us more

grace. . . . Submit yourselves, then,
to God. Resist the devil, and he will
flee from you.

Had you realized that the famous Scripture,

Resist the devil, and he will flee from you,
though applicable to other situations, was
actually referring to resisting the temptation
to envy (verse 5) and to overcoming the
temptation to pray with wrong motives, that
you may spend what you get on your
pleasures (verse 3)?

Few of us pause long enough to realize that

this famous quote is referring to resisting the
devils enticement to use prayer to try to
manipulate God into giving us things that
end up not being in our best interest
spiritually. The attraction of devilish practices
such as witchcraft is that they seem to offer
supernatural help in feeding selfish desires.
The devil does not display our Heavenly
Fathers reluctance to grant us things that
end up hurting and enslaving us.

There is nothing wrong with having favorite

Scriptures. Sometimes we can even take
verses out of context and the result still be
true. To avoid distorting Gods revelation,
however, it is likely that the verses we have
not underlined are the ones we most need.

Christians are typically well aware that lack

of faith often hinders Jesus longing to
miraculously meet our physical needs:

Matthew 13:58 And he did not do

many miracles there because of their
lack of faith.

The equally serious, but seldom recognized,

hindrance to God pampering us with
material possessions, however, is the
human tendency to push aside the true God
and instead worship money, pleasure and/or
ease, and ruin our lives by making them our
god.

We see the divine dilemma exposed when

Jesus fed the multitude. This was no treat to
titillate the taste buds. The situation was so
serious that some were in danger of fainting
on the long walk home (Mark 8:3).

Moved by compassion, he who denied

himself bread in the wilderness miraculously
provided for these people but as Gods
longing to meet our physical needs often
does it backfired.

John 6:14-15,26-27,34-35,49-51,66
After the people saw the miraculous
sign that Jesus did, they began to say,
Surely this is the Prophet who is to
come into the world. Jesus, knowing
that they intended to come and make
him king by force, withdrew again to a
mountain by himself.
Jesus answered, I tell you the
truth, you are looking for me, not
because you saw miraculous signs
but because you ate the loaves and
 had your fill. Do not work for food that
spoils, but for food that endures to
eternal life, which the Son of Man will
give you. . . .
Sir, they said, from now on
give us this bread. Then Jesus
declared, I am the bread of life. He
who comes to me will never go
hungry, and he who believes in me
will never be thirsty. . . . Your
forefathers ate the manna in the
desert, yet they died. But here is the
bread that comes down from heaven,
which a man may eat and not die. I
am the living bread that came down
from heaven. If anyone eats of this
bread, he will live forever. . . .
From this time many of his
disciples turned back and no longer
followed him.

In contrast to some preachers, Jesus

withdrew, rather than let people seek God for
the wrong reasons and he ended up making
it so hard for them that those with
materialistic motives left him.

We, too, are in danger of degrading God by

worshipping him as a Cash Cow instead of
honoring him as the Holy One whose
passion is righteousness and selflessness.

Too many of us break Gods heart by putting

him in a no-win situation: if God lovingly
refuses to indulge our greed, we resent him;
if he gives us what we clamor for, we destroy
ourselves by becoming infatuated with the
temporal rather than the eternal.

God is generous. He longs to shower his

gifts upon us, but our sinfulness and spiritual
immaturity often stymies him. And even if we
could be trusted with wealth, those we seek
to bring to the Lord could see what we have
and be fooled into thinking they are heading
for a pleasant eternity when they are not
saved at all but have merely come to God
for material gain.

Jesus kept warning would-be followers to

count the cost (Examples), but todays
tragedy is that some Christian leaders have
abandoned Jesus method because lowering
the price of following Jesus swells the
number of fans who will throw money in their
direction. The terrifying thing, however, is
that the price is not theirs to lower. They are
like salesmen who astound everyone by
their number of sales, when it is yet to be
revealed that they have infuriated their boss
by criminally selling his goods at way below
cost price. They have sold their souls to
temporary fame and fortune and far worse
seduced others into following them to
spiritual ruin.

Without exaggeration, the most sadistic of all

crimes is to let people feel assured of
salvation when they are not in spiritual union
with the Holy One. It means they are headed
for endless torment without the slightest
inkling that they still need to be saved.
Blissfully ignorant of the eternal disaster
awaiting them, they have been conned into
building their house on sand.

$ $ $ $ $

The Terrifying Side of Gods Love

Anyone very familiar with my vast website

will know I go to enormous lengths to
emphasize Gods gentleness, love for each
of us and his eagerness to forgive us
seventy times seven (Examples).

Nevertheless, there are alarming,

inescapable consequences of Gods holy
love. If everything about humanitys Judge is
driven by sacrificial love, then he will judge
us by that standard i.e. by how much we
have acted in sacrificial love:

1 John 3:14,16-17 We know that we

have passed from death to life,
because we love our brothers.
Anyone who does not love remains
in death. . . . This is how we know
what love is: Jesus Christ laid down
his life for us. And we ought to lay
down our lives for our brothers. If
anyone has material possessions
and sees his brother in need but
has no pity on him, how can the
love of God be in him?

1 John 4:16,20-5:1 And so we know

and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love
lives in God, and God in him. . . . If
anyone says, I love God, yet hates
his brother, he is a liar. For anyone
who does not love his brother, whom
he has seen, cannot love God, whom
he has not seen. And he has given us
this command: Whoever loves God
must also love his brother. Everyone
who believes that Jesus is the Christ
is born of God, and everyone who
loves the father loves his child as
well.

If love is so fundamental to God that

Scripture declares God is love, then he
passionately loves and yearns to defend not
just you, but everyone you have ever hurt by
your sin, selfishness or neglect. The Infinite
Lords mind-boggling love provokes him to
mind-boggling wrath against anyone who
hurts us or lets us suffer through their greed,
selfishness, neglect or whatever.

2 Thessalonians 1:6-7 God is just:

He will pay back trouble to those who
trouble you and give relief to you who
are troubled, and to us as well. This
will happen when the Lord Jesus is
revealed from heaven in blazing fire
with his powerful angels.

A perfect judge must be utterly impartial,

however, and there is no limit to our Judges
love i.e. he loves those we despise with
the same insane abandonment that he
loves us. So unless we genuinely repent of
hurting others, he is compelled to focus on
us that same wrath and yearning to execute
justice that he longs to pour out on those
who have mistreated us. Since humanitys
Judge loves everyone, we expose ourselves
to his judgment if ever we hurt someone
through greed or we leave someone to suffer
through our lack of generosity with the
resources God has entrusted to us. This is
why Jesus said such things as:

Matthew 5:20 For I tell you that

unless your righteousness surpasses
that of the Pharisees and the teachers
of the law, you will certainly not enter
the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 25:32,41-46 All the nations

will be gathered before him, and he
will separate the people one from
another as a shepherd separates the
sheep from the goats. . . . Then he
will say to those on his left, Depart
from me, you who are cursed, into the
eternal fire prepared for the devil and
his angels. For I was hungry and you
gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty
and you gave me nothing to drink, I
was a stranger and you did not invite
me in, I needed clothes and you did
not clothe me, I was sick and in
prison and you did not look after me.
They also will answer, Lord, when
did we see you hungry or thirsty or a
stranger or needing clothes or sick or
in prison, and did not help you?
He will reply, I tell you the truth,
whatever you did not do for one of the
least of these, you did not do for me.
Then they will go away to eternal
punishment . . .

Mark 10:17,22 . . . Good teacher, he

asked, what must I do to inherit
eternal life?
When Jesus heard this, he said to
him, You still lack one thing. Sell
 everything you have and give to the
poor, and you will have treasure in
heaven. Then come, follow me.

Luke 10:25 On one occasion an

expert in the law stood up to test
Jesus. Teacher, he asked, what
must I do to inherit eternal life?
What is written in the Law? he
replied. How do you read it?
He answered: Love the Lord
your God with all your heart and with
all your soul and with all your strength
and with all your mind; and, Love
your neighbor as yourself.
You have answered correctly,
Jesus replied. Do this and you will
live.
But he wanted to justify himself,
so he asked Jesus, And who is my
neighbor?
In reply Jesus said: A man was
going down from Jerusalem to
Jericho, when he fell into the hands of
robbers. They stripped him of his
clothes, beat him and went away,
leaving him half dead. A priest
happened to be going down the same
road, and when he saw the man, he
passed by on the other side. So too, a
Levite, when he came to the place
and saw him, passed by on the other
side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled,
came where the man was; and when
he saw him, he took pity on him. He
went to him and bandaged his
wounds, pouring on oil and wine.
Then he put the man on his own
donkey, took him to an inn and took
care of him. The next day he took out
two silver coins and gave them to the
innkeeper. Look after him, he said,
and when I return, I will reimburse
you for any extra expense you may
have. Which of these three do you
think was a neighbor to the man who
fell into the hands of robbers?
The expert in the law replied,
The one who had mercy on him.
Jesus told him, Go and do
likewise.

Gods entire purpose for our lives is that we

become like his Son, whose love for God
and for humanity compelled him to sacrifice
all. For example:

Romans 8:28-29 And we know that

in all things God works for the good of
those who love him, who have been
called according to his purpose. For
those God foreknew he also
predestined to be conformed to the
likeness of his Son, that he might be
 the firstborn among many brothers.

2 Corinthians 3:18 And we, who with

unveiled faces all reflect the Lords
glory, are being transformed into
his likeness with ever-increasing
glory . . .

Ephesians 4:22,24 . . . put off your

old self, which is being corrupted by
its deceitful desires . . . and to put
on the new self, created to be like
God in true righteousness and
holiness.

Philippians 2:5-84 Your attitude

should be the same as that of Christ
Jesus: Who, being in very nature
God, did not consider equality with
God something to be grasped, but
made himself nothing, taking the very
nature of a servant, being made in
human likeness. And being found in
appearance as a man, he humbled
himself and became obedient to
death even death on a cross!

Read this prayerfully:

1 John 4:16-17 . . . God is love.

Whoever lives in love lives in God,
and God in him. In this way, love is
made complete among us so that we
will have confidence on the day of
judgment, because in this world we
are like him.

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More

We are over half way through our

exploration of the Bibles teaching on
finances. The final section begins by
exposing tithing legalism and fallacies;
explaining how the tithe is often
overemphasized and misrepresented in
todays churches. We will then move on to
discussing Gods provision. Please continue
by reading The Tithing Trap.

2011, Grantley Morris. May be freely

copied in whole or in part provided: it is not
altered; this entire paragraph is included;
readers are not charged and it is not used in
a webpage. Many more compassionate,
inspiring, sometimes hilarious writings
available free online at www.net-burst.net
Freely you have received, freely give. For
use outside these limits, consult the author.

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