All of the prosperity teachers have a good thing in common: they encourage people to live the abundant life that Jesus offered. But unfortunately, they do not tell you what it will cost you to get it.
In the Old Testament story of the Hebrews journey out of Egypt and finally into the Promised Land of Canaan, Canaan represents this abundant life: a place where we live in victory and fruitfulness. But before they took possession of this Promise, the Hebrews were instructed to camp at Gilgal where all the men were told to be circumcised. Circumcision, a cutting or breaking of the flesh, is a symbolic ritual that meant commitment and dependence. The Hebrew men had to acknowledge their dependence on God alone in order to receive the Promise of God. Likewise, before you can enter your “Canaan,” you must be “broken” of your self-life. You must allow God to expose and cut out everything that remains of your natural strength and self-determination; only then will “He” be everything you need.
Before I understood this need for brokenness, I resisted, not knowing it was His work to set me free. Remember how the Lord fed the 5,000? He broke the bread first! It was not enough to take the five loaves and bless them. They had to be broken before the multitude could be fed. This is a process that has to be repeated in our lives daily. God takes us, blesses us, breaks us and uses us. If we become proud because we have such a blessing, He has to break us again. And this process continues through life.
Instead of praying for God’s promises in our lives, we should be praying for brokenness! Pray for many “breakthroughs” as you seek to be a person of great faith! When you have broken out of your own will, and your eyes have been opened to see the Lord (Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God), you will rejoice that He has broken you. It should not surprise you then, when just as you are about to break through to your “Canaan”—some promise of God you have waited for—that God brings about a trial in your life that will expose, and then cut ever more deeply into the bone, tissue, and muscle of your pride, false confidence, and self-reliance.
Thank God, He loves you too much to let you go into your “Canaan” with your natural weapons, for they would surely sabotage you, and bring about your defeat.
Isn't there always a degree of "romance" we experience when we see others in better conditions than ourselves? That romantic notion of attraction conveniently leaves out the process the admired individuals had to go through to get to their enviable position. I grieve for those in the prosperity doctrine because the emphasis on process is always overshadowed by the goal of financial independence. In this case it is much like the world, and the lies and half-truths that are presented to the naive and unassuming that become victims of so many scams.
ReplyDeleteIf Jesus was against the idea of financial independence He would have told Nicodemus the same thing He told the rich, young ruler. But He did not. He merely needed to be born again; Jesus knew his money would be born again with him! But we are not saved by our economic profile; we are saved by grace through faith. At that point the idea of "abundance" takes on a new life and meaning and is no longer limited to our economic status. Now, even if we were to lose our money we would not ever lose our Resources in Christ! He is our great Reward!
I don't for a minute assume that I will never whine or complain about financial pressures I face. I am well aware that I am privileged and a bit spoiled by comparison to many. But I have what I have by the grace of God and I desire to extend my resources graciously to those in need.
One more thing: we cannot assume that all people in the prosperity doctrine are greedy. I happen to know many who are more than generous with their resources. And God doesn't seem to mind that too much; so He continues to keep the floodgates of financial prosperity open to them. At the same time just because that is not our current experience doesn't mean we can't handle the money; and then again, maybe it does.
I really appreciate your thoughtful responses.
ReplyDeleteThe issue is not that of "teaching prosperity" or not teaching it. It is a matter of emphasis, proportion, definition, and process. After all, didn't Paul life our expectations pretty high in Ephesians 3:20 with all his superlative "exceedingly abundantly beyond... what you could ask or think"?
What great insight you have about the Rich Young Man.
It seems to me that Jesus spoke as he did to the Rich Young Man the way that He did because he knew the man's heart. Nicodemus' heart condition didn't require such an exhortation. It's always about the heart, isn't it!
Greg,
ReplyDeleteIn re-reading your original entry I couldn't help but take thought of how deeply rooted my own fleshly tendencies are. I discover this with more frequency as I live in more determined purpose to allow myself to be conformed to the image of God's dear Son. I also managed to secure a copy of your newest book and as I am reading it I am becoming more and more aware of "unfinished business" that has gone unnoticed by me in my striving to live a life of purpose for God. (Of course, that is not God's fault; but it sure would be nice to be able to blame Him for something, anyhow!)
I am hesitantly grateful for you pulling back the "veil" so to speak, of the lies that needed to be brought to surface and replaced with the truth that sets men free. Thank you for your courage to use your own life's "mistakes" as illustrations so that I could relate better to the precepts of living the Abundant Life in the midst of Dying to Self. This ebb and flow of living-dying-living-dying, etc., has its moments when I want to just tell everything to STOP! But I am beginning to understand that there are certain times I need to resign myself to being carried by Jesus to the next destination He has in mind when the weariness of the fight and the pain and suffering of the process of dying seems overwhelming.
I have great consolation in the knowledge of this: "Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal!" (2 Cor.4:16-18, NKJV)
Interesting that you should end with that verse. I am preaching at a friend's church this morning, and that is my message: we are called to walk in the newness of life (Romans 6:4) with a promise that it just keeps getting "newer and newer" everyday. (There is no English equivalent for the word "renewed"!)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the encouragement about my book.