Prosperity

Prosperity is something that most people are working towards and hoping to gain. Even professed Christians want to have a comfortable life and financial security. Rather than depend on God’s providence they want to depend on money in the bank and insurance policies.

Luxury items in the home and a life of pleasure and ease are very appealing to the human nature. But there is a great danger in prosperity. Many faithful children of God who gained prosperity in their lives lost their faith and dependence on God.

David was very faithful to God in the days of his youth. When he was persecuted and had to flee for his life he trusted in God’s help and wrote many wonderful psalms. But then when he had become a great king and was surrounded with luxury and prosperity he fell into sin. The praise and flattery had their effects on him that he forgot God and became self-trusting.

“But in the midst of prosperity lurked danger. In the time of his greatest outward triumph David was I the greatest peril, and met his most humiliating defeat.” PP 716.

Solomon was faithful to God and upright in his heart. God blessed him with riches and power, and many years he walked uprightly before God. But then his prosperity was a snare to him.

“Solomon, under all his honours, walked wisely and firmly in the counsels of God for a considerable time; but he was overcome at length by temptations that came through his prosperity. He had lived luxuriously from his youth. His appetite had been gratified with the most delicate and expensive dainties. The effects of this luxurious living, and the free use of wine, finally clouded his intellect, and caused him to depart from God.” BC 2, p. 1033

Sister White writes a counsel to a brother in the church who had prosperity in his life. “It is when you are prospered, when all men speak well of you, that you are in danger. Be on your guard, for you will be tried. My greatest fear for you has been that you should have too great prosperity, and you would fail to learn that your dependence is alone upon God. You have been placed in a position of great trust and honour, and there has been danger of your becoming dizzy and forgetting your dependence upon God.” Test. Vol. 8, p. 124.

Not only riches and money are signs of prosperity, but also a position or an office in the church can make a person proud and independent.

“There are many men whom God could have used with wonderful success when pressed with poverty,–He could have made glory hereafter,–but prosperity ruined them, they were dragged down to the pit because they forgot to be humble, forgot that God was their strength, and became independent and self-sufficient.” Test. Vol. 4, p. 544.

“Money was power among the foolish of earth, and money was their God; but their very prosperity has destroyed them. They became fools in the eyes of God and His heavenly angels, while men of worldly ambition thought them wise. Now their supposed wisdom is all foolishness, and their prosperity their destruction.” Test. Vol. 2, p. 42.

“Multitudes who are prosperous in the world, and who never stoop to the common forms of vice, are yet brought to destruction through the love of riches. The cup most difficult to carry is not the cup that is empty, but the cup that is full to the brim. It is this that needs to be most carefully balanced. Affliction and adversity bring disappointment and sorrow; but it is prosperity that is most dangerous to spiritual life.” MH 212.

“In the history of men we learn how dangerous is prosperity. It is not the men who have lost their money and their property who are in the greatest danger, but those who have obtained a fortune and are placed in a high position. These need careful, earnest labour. Adversity may depress, but prosperity elevates to presumption.” Evang, p. 561.

These testimonies of the Spirit of Prophecy are clear. They show us the great danger of prosperity. Yet even most of the professed Christians are seeking and dreaming of worldly prosperity, thinking that it would give them a happy life and security. When Jesus sent His disciples on a mission journey, He said to them, “Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes.” Luke 10:3, 4

Later He asked of His disciples, “When I sent you without purse, and script, and shoes, lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing.” Luke 22:35.

Jesus was teaching His disciples to depend on God to provide their needs, and this is a lesson that we also must learn. The life of Jesus shows us how God provides for His people all their necessities. He had no worldly riches, and no possessions, yet He was provided for while helping others. Yet we find men in history who were prosperous and remained faithful to God and also remained humble.

Joseph trusted in God and depended on Him for his needs. “And his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand.” Gen. 39:3.

Even when he was exalted to the position of Prime Minister of Egypt he did not become proud, nor forget his God. Abraham was wealthy and remained faithful, trusting in God for guidance and protection. Job had great possessions and yet remained righteous before God. Even when he lost it all he did not complain. Few people have been able to remain faithful, depending on God and humble while having prosperity. Money is a talent that we need to use wisely to the honour of God.

Jesus spoke about a rich man whose ground brought a great harvest and did not know where to store his fruits. “And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall these things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” Luke 12: 18-21.

“Then said Jesus unto His disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” Matt. 19: 23, 24.

Before we start dreaming about prosperity and working towards it, let us consider the dangers that it may bring upon us. And if we have gained riches let us use them wisely to support the work of God, and the entrusted talent to our care will not bring a curse upon us but a blessing. The bank of heaven will yield the highest interest to our investment. AMEN.