I believe God wants us to prosper. I believe in and I teach prosperity. But, I think we should be careful in defining what it means. The problem with some of today's crop of prosperity believers is that they want to define it by how much "stuff" they have accumulated. "Stuff", otherwise known as "mammon" in the Bible is okay - but the danger is that seeks to make you subservient. Jesus said it is was impossible to serve mammon and God at the same time. Not forbidden, just impossible. This ability to capture and make subservient is a big part of the deceitfulness of riches. "Mammon", (money, possessions,) will seek to master you. and in doing so, choke the word of God. When you want God to give you "stuff" just for the sake of having "stuff", you may have bit the worm, taken the bait, fell into the snare of the deceitfulness of riches. You know, I love to hear the truly prosperous tell of how God has blessed them so that can do what they love to do....give, give, give. It is distasteful to hear some who think they are prosperous reel off their list of "stuff". When I hear someone brag about all the "stuff" they have, in the presence of missionaries trying to survive on the mission field, I feel sick inside. I want to stand up and shout at the top of my lungs "sell your stuff and bless the missionaries - now - thus saith".
I have searched the Word and so far, I have not found one promise where God or the Bible says "for money I will give you money". Maybe I am wrong but so far, those who seek to prove me wrong, are usually going to give me a verse from a different covenant than this new and better one we have, and, even then they won't have it right or in context. Or, they may quote from Luke 6 about how if we give, it will be given back to us, pressed down, shaken together and running, given to us, to our bosom, our wallet, by men. Actually, the whole context shows that verse is not about money, but about "mercy". If taken to mean money, then when we give, we must always be watching other men to see if they are going something back to us. Unfortunately, that is a familiar sight! Our eyes will be on men, not God. God only knows how many offerings have been taken, using that verse to extract money from the congregation, some of whom were desperate for mercy, not money. Or, they will tell me about the parable of the seed and sower where seed on good ground might come back with 30 to a 100 fold return. Just a teensy-weensy bit of research will show that this parable is about God (not us) is sowing seed words into our lives, words which is handled properly, can become full revelations. How that ever became a prosperity verse remains a mystery to me. It is not "give ten dollars and get a hundred dollars in return". It is much more important than that. It is about how God communicates with us. God only knows how much money has been pried out of the hands of gullible believers with that little jewel. And, they are still waiting for the 100 fold increase and maybe standing in the same line with those waiting for other men to heap to their bosom mo' money.
The truth is, when we give, God considers it us showing Him "grace". In fact, the Bible speaks of our giving as a "grace". For our grace, He gives us grace. We reap what we sow. Sow grace, reap grace. When we give into the Kingdom, we are giving, showing involvement in God's business and in return, He in turn involves Himself in our business. You sow grace, you get Grace. According to the Galatians six passage about sowing and reaping, which is indeed about money, if we sow to the spirit (sharing resources with those who teach us the things of God), we will reap "life everlasting". If we fail to sow to the spirit, we will reap "corruption"; (malfunctions and breakdowns). This is not about money. This is about everlasting life (the Holy Ghost). Life is not money. You can't sow money and reap life. You can't buy everlasting life, no matter how much you give. This is about God, for your giving, manifesting His life, His grace in your affairs. In the 2nd Corinthians nine passage, which too is about money, God said that for our sowing the return would be abundant grace, sufficiency, abounding in good works and enrichment in all things. Could mean money? Yes and double yes! But, to simply call it it money is to dramatically lessen the blessing. God's grace cannot be measured by dollars. His grace will bless you and bless you and bless you but sometimes that blessing you need is not money. Sometimes it may be a touch on your body, an intervention in a dire situation, a rescue from failure, a wisdom to handle your business, etc..
My favorite definition of grace is that it is the "willing involvement of God, or divine influence, in the affairs of men". And, according to the Word, grace can be multiplied. Grace can grow. Grace can move from marginal to abundant. Giving of money or treasures is just one of the ways we interact with God, sowing grace for grace. Want more grace? Give more and give cheerfully, whatever you have to give. That can be certainly mean money, or it could be praise, time, service and many other things. Just keep in mind that God's measure of acceptance is the attitude of the giver. He loves a cheerful giver. A lot of giving is wasted giving because of rotten attitudes such as grudging, greedy, grumpy, and mercenary thinking. And, don't give your treasures to men. You may put it into man's hands, but know in your heart, it is to God you are giving. You are obeying His voice to give here or give there. And, for goodness sake, don't set around waiting for men to give it back to you. How many stories have we heard about someone giving something of value to the church, then gets mad and wants their money back? Or, walks away from God because at the hour they were looking for men to heap to them riches, it didn't happen? All too often.
No comments:
Post a Comment