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Does God want me rich or does God want me poor? If neither, how should I view my wealth? These are the questions that many Christians are faced with in modern times, particularly in the prosperous Western world.
With the increasing rise in prominence of so-called ‘prosperity’ churches, many Christians are being challenged about the role finances play in their lives as followers of Christ.
So how do you react? It all becomes extremely difficult and often confusing when different churches teach totally different extremes. So which one is right? Which teaching is Jesus saying 'amen' to? Surely he can’t be okay with both. The issue becomes more cloudy when you see God-fearing, respectable church leaders who clearly love God yet firmly oppose one another in their views over wealth and poverty, and money's rightful place in the lives of God’s people.
In order to try to see where God actually fits into the equation, we are going to first expose these two schools of thought. In so doing, it is possible to see that, when preached to the extremes, they are both wrong and can bring misunderstandings, frustrations and huge disappointments to God's people.
THE POVERTY EXTREME
Many traditional Christians and members of more conservative churches have been raised to view wealth with suspicion. They would see that any kind of significant material gain could hinder their holiness. They view the material world as evil and that which is unseen as virtuous, therefore any plans involving wealth, for whatever purpose, would be avoided like the plague.
This extreme teaching, that stems widely from monks and nuns makings vows of poverty in the Middle Ages, suggests that poverty is equivalent to godliness. It mistakenly supports the belief that the poorer you are the more spiritual you are, and consequently the closer your walk with God must be. Those who subscribe to this doctrine cite examples in the Bible of how various prophets, disciples, and even Jesus himself, lived life without material riches, and in some cases, lived as the homeless.
Those who follow this doctrine don’t warm to success and criticise those who are successful. In keeping true to this teaching they use it as a way to comfort those who are impoverished. Followers of this doctrine try to convince others that they should not worry about accumulating wealth in this life and only concern themselves with accumulating riches in the afterlife.
So, some Christians seem to have the misconception that being wealthy is evil and being poor is holy. But there is nothing holy about being poor. God doesn’t want his children to live in poverty.
THE WEALTH EXTREME
The opposite of the extreme teaching of poverty is the extreme teaching of wealth. Those who follow this equate wealth with godliness. Their mantra may sound like this: ‘The wealthier you are the more blessed you are and consequently the more favoured by God you must be’.
Believers of this doctrine have mistakenly concluded that their identity and acceptance by God is a function of how much 'stuff' they own. This teaching can be very damaging and is a very sick joke to Christians in under-developed countries.
There is nothing wrong with prosperity, positive confession and positive thoughts, but when they become ‘movements’ that’s where imbalance starts. Much of this is subjective. For instance, when you hear the phrase 'name it and claim it' you could quite rightly stand on the verse of scripture in Hebrews 11:1 that states “faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see”. Now that’s fine when you’re believing in the promises of God over your life, but when you start believing for things outside of God’s plan and purpose for you, that’s when things become very messy indeed.
Luke 6:38 states, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Many extreme teachers of the pro-wealth camp quite rightly see this biblical principle at work, but unfortunately distort it with a self-based motivation - i.e. they will give, just so that they get more in return. This is not godly giving. God is not the president of the Self Gain Investment Corporation. Yes, he wants us to prosper, but ultimately his blessings on our lives are poured out so that we in turn can be a blessing to others. We should ‘get so we can give’, not solely ‘give so we can get’.
WHERE DOES GOD FIT IN?
We must not view such matters lightly, but think carefully about what teachings we take on board in our lives. False teachers and doctrines can be hugely damaging to the Church and severely hinder the works of God that he has for us. Think too about how God views such things. James 3:1 tells us that Bible teachers will be “judged by a higher standard and with greater severity” (AV) than other people. God sees this as a critical area.
So where does God fit into the equation? Well, he loves all his children, but not all their lifestyles. Some, I’m sure, bring great sorrow to him – especially when we get into false doctrines and teachings – to whatever extreme.
The whole concept behind WisdomOnWealth is to give a balanced biblical view of how God wants you to perceive and handle wealth in your life.
I passionately believe that the Devil will do everything he can to prevent us from managing and creating wealth, so that God’s Kingdom is not impacted through the giving of our resources. A rich person has far more power at their disposal to be able to help where financial assistance is needed than a poor person.
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