Wealth & Prosperity

Now that’s a title that usually gets people. I once saw a bilboard from a financial planner that said “Let me show you how to retire in less than ten minutes.” Wouldn’t you know it people got all excited because they thought he was going to show them some secret to coming into some money so they could retire within the next ten minutes! Typical Americans-no patience. Not that I’m any better. Anyway, I was kidding about the bilboard, although I think I did see it in a dream one night. Might make a good ad slogan for an actual FP firm.

“Ends, some people will rob their motherfor the ends, rats snitch on one anotherfor the ends, sometimes kids get murderedfor the ends, so before we go any furtherI want my ends.”-Everlast-”Ends” 1998.
Written by one very street smart rapper named Everlast back in the late ’90′s. I love music but I never pay attention to lyrics. It was actually a DJ that announced the song was about money, then the song made sense once I started paying closer attention to it. Sad lyrics despite a really good beat. People robbing their own mothers for money, or “the ends”, people tattling on each other or stepping on each other’s toes just to get ahead, even going as far as killing each other. The next part of the song I’ll summarize, the second half I don’t think Google would like me putting in a blog. The artist says he knew a cat named Darrell, who didn’t have a dollar, was Harvard material, an Ivy League scholar. Then he goes to to tell us Darrell was a Ph.d, an MBA, but now he’s waiting tables cause there’s rent to pay. (I actually know of a few intellectuals who ended up waiting tables after college just to make ends meet). Anyway, next few lines: “Companies downsizing, inflations rising, can’t find a job, he’s getting kind of stressed. Doesn’t even forget to feel the effects when he says forgot to count how many times he’s been blessed. So he falls off track, starts smoking the crack, once it hits his brain it starts to chain react. He sells the shirt off his back, the shoes off his feet, he’s losing all his teeth, now he’s out in the street, and all of a sudden he’s like Jesse James, trying to stick up kids for their watches and chains, but he’s from the business school, nervous with a tool, so he winds up on his back in a bloody pool.” Like Darrell, people have dreams, usually governed by society’s expectations to “make something of themselves”. So after high school some go pursue their education all the way to Ph.d or MBA while others land good jobs after high school or community college and work their way up a ladder of “success”, and still others go on to start their own businesses (the fortunate few who have the entrepreneurial genius to fulfill the dream most people want). Then reality hits to the few who don’t “make it” (reminds me of a few song off the Americana album by Offspring) and they get labeled “losers” by society, or so they see themselves. Some get back up, “by their own bootstaps”, some wind up stealing or doing/selling dtugs and wind up in the criminal justice system, and others end up in psychiatric hospitals due to nervous breakdowns. Why? All because of society’s expectations of what true success is. How does God view success? In Joshua 1:8, the Word says, “Do not let this book of Law depart from y our mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it, for then you will make your way prosperous and you will have success.” Likewise, Psalm 1 says, “the righteous is like a tree planted by steams of water that yields it’s fruit in season, and it’s leaf does not whither. In all that they do they prosper.” There’s that word again. Prosper. You hear it all over tv today, especially in christian circles. Though it’s way out context. Yes God does want you to prosper and be successful; He wants to bless you. Only in His timing and in His way. Word Faith/Prosperity teachers focus on more on the rewards of being a child of God than how to become a child of God. But then of course, there’s the extreme of those that focus too much on how to become a child of God. Prosperity gospel v. Hellfire brimstone/doom & gloom gospel. One side scares people into a right relationship with God while the other produces false converts because as soon as adversity comes along they renounce their faith in God. Since faith is trusting in God and doing what He says, what does He tell us to do to be succesful and prosperous in His sight? Prosperous & successful in the Greek NT mean to be useful or to “benefit”. One site defined prosperity as “having the blessed resources & abilities to acomplish God’s will.” OT Hebrew means being well, or righteous, overcoming odds, and being profitable. So spiritual prosperity, as opposed to material prosperity that the prosperity preachers teach which appeals to the flesh, is simply overcoming and being made useful to God to be a blessing to others. Also known as following the “narrow way” of holiness & purity and resisting the urges to follow the flesh. To sum it up, biblical prosperity involves having the resources to serve God to the fullest and build His kingdom by introducing lost sinners to the Savior who died for them. The only thing we’re commanded to seek after is God and His righteousness. To do this you have to be broken, or realize your spiritual poverty. Then as you turn your life over to Him, He credits His righteousness to you by faith, or trusting in Him, and you become rich if you are in Christ. Seeking after anything else is a form of idolatry because it doesn’t involve trusting in God to provide. Trusting in God doesn’t involve just sitting back and waiting on Him to act though. It involves doing what He says. Only pursue those things you sense He’s calling you to receive through hard work (and His strength). Seeking anything other than God will drain you and wear you down and won’t satisfy your spiritual life (your soul) anyway. Psalm 1:3 says the righteous prosper in everything they do. They may fail a few times, in fact Pastor Bob Jeffras in Dallas, was quoted as saying that to succeed you first have to fail. I heard financial guru, Dave Ramsey talk about being a financial failure when he was younger. If you follow God’s will you will prosper (be useful) in everything you do if you do it for the Master’s glory. As you grow in faith, God transforms you into the likeness of His Son and you overcome sins and become even more useful (prosperous). In closing, remember most of the biblical patriarchs were wealthy back in their day, but wealth usually comes to you in accordance with whatever amount of faith you exercise in giving it out. You don’t have to make a lot of money to become wealthy, especially in these days. You just have to be a faithful steward and live according to biblical principles, below your means, invest for a rainy day (retirement) and primarily in the kingdom of God. I read somewhere if you made a median income of $30K a year and invest 10% or less, in your twenties, by the time you are eligible to retire in your sixties you could possibly be worth a few million. Even more of a blessing if your house and car and any other debts are paid off by then.

7/24/1