Last week we discussed how the bible shows us that contentment in ALL our circumstances is what we should striving for, not wealth.
1 Tim 6: 8-10 drives home the point even further:
"8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9 People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs."
Paul then exhorts Timothy to flee from all of these fleshly desires:
11 But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.
Now to be clear, there is a huge difference between God’s provision for our needs, and for our wants. Many times in scripture GOD says he will take care of our needs if we are faithful believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, but not our “wants” via some sense of entitlement due to some bad hermeneutic leading to a poor scriptural exegesis or simply because we put our faith in Christ and Tithe.
I need to state here in no uncertain terms that we have been a great beneficiary of God’s provision. As a family we make about half of what we did at the peak of our earning power but through his provision we are actually much better off. This has nothing to do with any prosperity doctrine, only GOD’s word and promise.
When dealing with people who follow prosperity teaching please handle them with care. I hear too many get angry when dealing with them. I believe that there are misguided believers among them so remember what James says:
James 1 :19-20
19 My dearly loved brothers, understand this: everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger, 20 for man's anger does not accomplish God's righteousness.
James 5:19-20
"19 My brothers, if any among you strays from the truth, and someone turns him back, 20 he should know that whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his life from death and cover a multitude of sins."
It is my earnest prayer that this series has helped somebody who has been struggling with some of the teachings of the Word of Faith and Prosperity gospels. I can say with certainty that there are different levels of these teachings going from one church body within this “ology” to the next. We also need to keep in mind that the mainline beliefs they hold are identical to “orthodox” Christianity. Some would argue we should not separate over non-essentials. I’ll leave that decision between you and the Holy Spirit.
Until the next time, may the LORD bless us and keep us, in Jesus name I pray.
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