Does God want His people rich? Is it just our lack of faith and generosity that stops us rolling in money?
I want to begin today by being perfectly blunt: If you think God wants you to be rich so that you can live a luxurious lifestyle, you’ve been seriously deceived and lied to. Worse, it may be your own selfishness which has led you to think this way.
The prosperity preachers who tell us that we would all be wealthy if we would just give all our money to them are, in my view, among the lowest of the low life, just above those who sell children. They steal from old women who don’t have enough savvy of the modern mind to realise that these preachers’ gods are their own egos. I’ve heard certain “evangelists” tell that they are spreading the Word all over the world, and that you and I are obliged to give to their “vital ministry”, when the truth is that they live in luxury-private jets and all-while those who they steal from are struggling to get by.
I’ve seen them on TV, telling their audience that if they would only just part with their money, God will bless them beyond their wildest dreams. And the most common lie is that if you aren’t giving at least a tenth of your income-to them-God cannot and will not bless you.
A short browse through the New Testament will reveal the exact opposite teaching. Despite the lie I’ve personally heard from some of these charlatans that “Jesus was rich”, the truth is that Jesus said, “The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20). And where would a carpenter’s son gain riches from? Perhaps the preachers of the devil’s lies should ask themselves why Jesus didn’t stay in a four or five star hotel, or buy palaces to live in, as some of them do.
The apostles were not wealthy, but worked for a living, as the prosperity crowd should be doing. Peter and John had to turn down a beggar, and Peter told him:
“Silver or gold I do not have” (Acts 3:6).
Why not Peter? Are you perhaps not tithing?
The reasons to work for a living, as laid out by the apostle Paul, never once included the necessity to support a wealthy lifestyle for the apostles. Paul was a tent-maker, in order to not be a burden on anyone:
“…nor did we eat anyone’s 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” (2 Thessalonians 3:8).
And as for the idea that God wants us all to be rich, this is what Paul had to say about worldly wealth. It’s a little lengthy but very instructive. Paul speaks of men of “corrupt minds” who are:
“…destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (1 Timothy 6:5-10).
Here I must add that wealth itself; money itself is not evil. It’s what you do with it that matters. If you spend it on mansions and private jets and avoiding getting a proper and respectable job, you are in it entirely for yourself, and you’ve already had your reward: God has nothing else for you but judgment. If you give it and use it for genuine good for others and those in need, you are serving the Lord.
Paul said that we should work so that we can help others, not so that we can afford luxury. This is what the prosperity preachers would tell themselves, if they had any sense:
“Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need” (Ephesians 4:28).
New Testament giving was to help those in need, not to make a few rich, or to spend enormous amounts of money on lavish facilities with salaries and expensive decor and sound systems.
In conclusion, our aim in life is not to make ourselves rich, or to make the fake minister rich, but to be rich towards our God, and to help those who really are in need.
Fuel for Faith, Food for Thought 