The Prosperity Gospel
Even if you haven’t heard of the prosperity gospel, you’ve probably heard it preached. “Turn to God and everything will come up rainbows and unicorns!” “If you pray for riches and glory, and believe you’ll get it, you will!” That’s the prosperity gospel.
That’s not the gospel of Jesus.
Look at the evidence: Saul of Tarsus. He had everything going for him. He was, basically, a lawyer at the most prestigious law firm in Israel. He had a company car, health coverage, and a very nice retirement plan. In his pocket was a warrant to do whatever he wanted to a group of people he hated. They were lawbreakers, and that’s what he hated the most. So he went out to “get” them.
One day Jesus appeared to him. Saul turned his life over to Jesus. He lost his job and the benefits package that went with it. For the rest of his life his former colleagues wanted to kill him. He was beaten and left for dead (shipwrecked, too) multiple times. Eventually a mob was about to kill him when the Romans stepped in to save his life.
The accusations against him left him jailed. He was sent to Rome to stand trial. He was found guilty and executed. All for professing faith in Jesus, and teaching others what he knew.
That doesn’t sound like a life of ease, so when I hear someone teaching “trust God and you’ll get the 4x4 you want,” I resent it. The Bible clearly teaches that the rain (something needed in farming) falls on the righteous and the wicked. Calamity, likewise.
I’m certain that teachers aren’t trying to say, “Trust God and you’ll have an easy life,” but that’s what it sounds like. I worry that a single mother of three, who works multiple jobs, puts in eighteen hours every day of the week, will hear that version of what is said.
That single mother might “test the waters” (so to speak), and end up disillusioned when she still has to work those jobs for all those hours, and her eldest child gets detention. “Now I have to leave work early and get you home. We can’t afford to get a loaf of bread now!”
The thing is, sunshine and lollipops are in the hereafter. We’re supposed to seek God for who God is, not for the benefits package Saul gave up. If we value God above all else, we’ll get Him.
Our benefits are all summed up as God. Heaven is described as having roads paved with gold. But if we have God, what difference do golden roads make? The banquets we’ll have in Heaven will be nothing compared to getting to climb up on His lap and telling Him about what we did that day. We’ll get to hug Jesus, and talk with the Holy Spirit.
Who cares about the best fried chicken and mashed potatoes ever made? We get God!
That 4x4 you’ve been waiting for? The long hours put in at multiple part-time jobs? The aches and pains you’ve been putting up with for decades?
Pfft.
We’ll get God.
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