| Crosswords: Truly Blessed |
By Richard Prow ~ rpcrosswords@gmail.com
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Let’s tackle head on a subject that continues to be awash in the religious community. Are Christians supposed to be and entitled to be rich and healthy?
Many in the Pentecostal / charismatic camp would answer with a resounding yes as they recite hundreds of Bible verses declaring that Jesus broke the bonds over sickness and poverty. Even believers on the conservative side of the Christian fence have bought into that same premise. You may remember when the book entitled “The Prayer Of Jabez,” made it’s rounds throughout the Baptist, Methodist and Presbyterian denominations. Yes, everyone wanted to somehow hit the spiritual lottery.
To be sure, God does offer special gifts to His children and often times those gifts are related to health and finance. But does that mean that all believers should acquire another safe deposit box and cancel their next doctor’s physical?
For something to be true in a biblical sense it must first pass a basic litmus test. It must first be relevant to every single person. That includes past and present. It must also be relevant for every geographical region. In other words, the “Prosperity Gospel” has to apply outside the parameters of the western world. And third, a biblical truth cannot be contradicted with other verses or accounts in the Bible.
This health and wealth teaching certainly does not apply to all believers. All of us have known Godly people who have fallen victim to cancer or car wrecks or violence. Hundreds of thousands of individuals are affected by severe mental and physical disabilities relegating them to a life of dependence on others. And to those who have lost a small child, it’s cruel to suggest that they simply lacked enough faith to prolong that life.
These promises of prosperity don’t hold much weight in Third World countries. People in those areas have limited range goals. They don’t fantasize over new cars and job promotions. They need food, and you can’t eat an engine block for your daily nutritional value.
Lastly, and stop me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Jesus die at a rather young age without a stitch of clothing on His back? And for those who would say that He was simply paying the price for us I would point out that very few individuals in the New Testament were poster children for long life and solid finances. Most gave away what little they had and then died at a relatively young age for what they believed.
The fact is some of God’s children do well when it comes to money. Others seem to struggle their whole life to get by. Some of God’s own die in the birth canal while others live to be a hundred. We are not all created equal in those regards. We do however have one thing in common. We each receive the same amount of grace and forgiveness and each of us has an equal standing in the presence of God. And isn’t that what it means to be truly blessed rather than to possess and be obsessed with the trivial things that this world offers.
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