Good Morning! This week we have been talking about giving, but are we promised prosperity in this life? Prosperous or prosperity is one of those words with subjective connotations; it means different things to various people. One might think that prosperous is having his bills paid each month, while another might think that only billionaires can be considered prosperous. The dictionary, as you might expect, leaves the word open to these interpretations:
Prosperous: 1. conducive to success. 2. a. attended with or marked by good fortune. b. attended with or marked by economic well-being.
People are going to attach different meaning to economic well-being and good fortune is open to anyone’s point of view. We in Christ do not believe in good fortune, but in the beneficence of our Lord. We believe that every good thing comes from Him, and not from the capricious fortune of the world. More on that subject another day. We should be careful about the promises of prosperity from the pulpit if we believe that prosperity equals riches on earth. We should be content, as Paul was, no matter what our situation. That doesn’t mean that we are not allowed to work hard for a better financial situation, but that no matter what our finances we should be content in the Lord. Some people work very hard and have little; others work smart, but still end up with little, and some seem to do no work at all and yet are quite well off. It seems to me then that there is a disconnection between what the Lord considers a good thing for us, and what the world considers a good thing. The world would have us thing that if you do good, you will be rewarded from above and be wealthy too. This is strange since there also seems to be nothing the world likes more than to see the wealthy receive their “comeuppance” and be made poor. We may not be wealthy in this world; in fact we will probably not be made wealthy. We can be content and we must trust in the Lord for all things. Not strangely at all, doing the latter brings on the former! When we give our cares and concerns to the Lord, we are content.
May God grant you his peace.
Bucky
No comments:
Post a Comment