Does the Bible promise you will get rich?

Hebrews 13:5

5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.”

There are a number of preachers today who tell you God wants you to be rich. They are lying to you. God wants many things for you- to be saved through the blood of Christ, to be faithful, to be just, to have a good spiritual life, to be a good family member- but He does NOT promise riches in this life.

There are verses which tell you that when you become a Christian, a true Christian, that you will find trouble in this life- that people will persecute you. (Matthew 5:11 for starters) In the early Church people went to the flames, to the lions, to the headsman and to the cross all for the sake of belonging to Jesus. Today, in places such as India and many spots in Africa, people are being killed, raped or tortured because they stand for Christ. The church even persecuted it's own in the middle ages for daring to want to give the common man access to the Bible in their own languages and worship God rather than the church.

In America, we don't face persecution very often. No matter what the far right says, Christianity is not under true attack here...yet. Every president has claimed to be of the Christian faith, no one is preventing you from going to church, you aren't in danger of losing your job because you're a Methodist or Catholic or Baptist, and no one is preventing you from marrying under your religious views.

You might, however, lose friends if you are truly faithful. You might not get on the fast track at work if you are truly faithful, you might not get invited to all the cool parties or you might have family discord.

For when you truly follow Christ- you have to live like it. You have to refrain from much of what the world thinks is right, and you have to refrain from much of what the "religious right" thinks is proper. You're rather stuck in the middle, in a narrow way. But that's okay, because Jesus told you it would be so. He tells us there is a narrow path to get to Him- so that is just where you want to be.

It can be hard when your worldly friends think you are a stick in the mud, and your religious friends (who care more for politics than doing what Jesus commands) think you are too liberal and caring. That's okay- you're not to worry about what they think as much as you are to care about what God thinks. God wants you on the front lines caring about the poor and the outcast, and He wants you to refrain from watching/reading/doing the worldly things that defile your soul.

And what about money? Does God want you to be poor? Not necessarily. There are those God gives wealth to, to further good works in this life in His name. Church tradition teaches that it was two very wealthy men (Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea) that funded the early churches and the missions of the Apostles. (Someone had to pay the costs.) History is full of good stewards of money that have used their wealth to help the godly, reach out to the poor, fund hospitals and orphanages- do God's work by helping to spread the Gospel.

But God keeps wealth away from many for one reason- He knows that if they have it, they will worship the love of money and the world and turn away from Him- thus sending their soul into peril.

"What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?" (Mark 8:36)

Or "19“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

22“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

24“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." (Matthew 6:19-24)

It is alright to want to do well in this life to take care of your family, it is even better to want to do well in this life to help further the Kingdom of God. But learn to be content with what God has given you and to seek to do His will where you are. When you have shown you can be trusted with little, then you will be trusted with more. (Luke 16:10)

Keep your heart centered on God and remember- this life is only temporary- a pit stop if you will, on the greater journey that is eternity with God. This is your testing ground, your admittance final- this life only matters in that we grow close to God and choose His ways. For when we get to Heaven we'll look back and say, "I worried about that? I cared about that why?" It is the relationships you have here that matter (especially with God) and the work you do for Christ that will count.

Are you doing His work where you are? Is your soul longing and preparing for your true home? Is your focus where it should be?

Be blessed friends, and be a blessing to someone else.

-Beth Butler

What Voice Will You Listen To?

This world is full of divisiveness, pettiness, gossip and greed. It is full of those who step on others to get ahead or who hold back others so they may delight in another's suffering. This world is full of those who are self righteous and cruel, who hand out judgement and anger like candy freely given away on Halloween. There are voices clamoring that you will never be good enough, strong enough or smart enough...so be happy in pity or mediocrity.

You can listen to those voices, or you can listen to God. God who says you are worth dying for to redeem. You are precious. You are so beloved of Him that He engraved your name into His palms (Isaiah 49:16) and He holds you up with His right hand (Isaiah 41:10.) You are a prodigal child, but God is the Father waiting for you to come to Him. He has the party planned and the robe of belonging waiting to throw over your shoulder. He has the ring of inheritance ready to slip on your finger. You are cherished and wanted for eternity.

Listen to the message of love God has for you, choose to belong through Christ's redemptive blood. Your inheritance is bought and waiting, you need only choose to believe and answer God's call to you.

And then, become a light in this swirling darkness of our society. Be a voice that gives cheer to the sorrowful, love to the lonely, friendship to the outcasts and comfort to the elderly. Help bring people together when this world wants them to be further apart. Help to heal wounded hearts, be a balm to a weary soul. You are a light unto the world (Matthew 5:14) if only you choose to be.

You can choose to further the discord, or help to heal it. What will you choose?

Be Blessed friends, and be a Blessing to someone else.

-Beth Butler

‎"Whoever loves God must also love his brother."

‎"Whoever loves God must also love his brother."

~1 John 4:21b

Whosoever loves God MUST also love his brother. Who is our brother? When Jesus was presented with a similar question, He gave us the parable of the good Samaritan- which teaches all are our brothers, and it is he who acts in love and good faith that honors God. It is he, or she, who reaches out to the hurting person in love that is truly doing the work of God. 

In the parable of the Good Samaritan, the "righteous" pass the wounded man on the side of the road, and it is the Samaritan (a group of people the Jews disdained and would have no contact with) that aided the wounded man and paid for his care. When Jesus asks who was the good neighbor in this situation, we all know it is the man who actually stopped and did something for the injured- the man who didn't regard race and class separations but acted in love anyway.

The verse above tells us if we truly love God we absolutely must love our brothers. Who is your brother or sister? They are not just those who go to your church, your civic clubs, your gym, your workplace. They are not just your friends and family, your social peers. Your brother or sister is the homeless man or woman down on their luck and needing help. They are the disenfranchised youth, the ones you shake your head at and wonder what this world is coming to. They are the prisoners. They are the scared and lonely seniors, abandoned in nursing homes or trying to fend the best they can in their lifelong homes now in older, not so well kept neighborhoods. They are the people of other faiths, the people of other sexual preferences, the people of other race. They are anyone God puts you in contact with. Anyone.

Each person you meet is someone God set for you to meet. You are His ambassador to them. Are you showing His love to them? You're not going to like each person you meet- we're all human and some interactions don't go so smoothly. The Bible says we must love our neighbors as ourselves, which means we are to help take care of them. Let's be honest, do any of us like everything about ourselves? I know I don't...but I still value myself, take care of myself, love myself. We all do. We all take care of ourselves even when there are traits and characteristics about us that we don't like. 

In the same manner, you can not like everything about someone else, yet still love them. Love, like forgiveness, is more an action than a feeling sometimes. We show love by acting in love. You may not like how that angry teenager cusses, but treat them in gentleness anyway. You may not like how pretentious your next door neighbor acts, be friendly and kind anyway. As you find actions of love to do for someone else- everything from a smile, to a prayer, to a plate of cookies or a warm jacket- you will find the feelings will follow. 

Just remember as you meet each person- this is someone God loves. God loves them so much He died on a cross for them. How can I show them a fraction of His love today?

-Beth Butler

Does God want Christians to actually care and care for the poor and the elderly? Or can we ignore them and still be ok with God?

I hear a lot from Republican friends on how faithful and religious they are- and maybe so.  Though the Pharisees were religious too.  Hmm.  I'm an Independent myself, and a Christian first beyond any political affiliation.

Whenever I consider an issue, I think...how does God want me to respond to this?  What should my worldview be?  

There are a lot of people talking about cuts in our budgets to the poorest in our country.  Now...the Bible has over 300 verses about how God feels about the poor, and about how we are to treat them.  Here are some of them.

God's love and concern for the poor

Deut. 26:5-9. The Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, and imposed hard labor on us. Then we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction and our toil and our oppression; and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror and with signs and wonders; and He has brought us to... this land flowing with milk and honey.

Luke 4:16-21. And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read... "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He appointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden, to proclaim the favorable year of the LORD... Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

Ps. 140:12. I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and justice for the poor.

Is. 25:4. For You have been a defense for the helpless, a defense for the needy in his distress.

Ps. 10:14. The unfortunate commits himself to You; You have been the helper of the orphan... O LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their heart, You will incline Your ear to vindicate the orphan and the oppressed.

Is 41:17. The afflicted and needy are seeking water, but there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst. I, the LORD, will answer them Myself, as the God of Israel I will not forsake them.

Luke 6:20-21. Blessed are you who are poor, for yours in the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.

James 2:5. Did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?

God's Commandments Concerning the Poor

Deut. 15:7. If there is a poor man among you, one of your brothers, in any of the towns of the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand to your poor brother; but you shall freely open your hand to him, and generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks.

Deut. 26:12. When you have finished paying the complete tithe of your increase in the third year, the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the orphan and the widow, that they may eat in your towns, and be satisfied.

Lev. 19:19ff. Now when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, neither shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. Nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger. I am the LORD your God.

Prov. 31:8ff. [Commandment to kings.] Open your mouth for the dumb, for the rights of all the unfortunate. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the rights of the afflicted and needy.

Is. 58:66ff. Is this not the fast which I choose, to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and break every yoke? Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into the house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

Jer. 22:3. Do justice and righteousness, and deliver the one who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor. Also do not mistreat or do violence to the stranger, the orphan, or the widow; and do not shed innocent blood in this place.

Luke 12:33. "Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves purses which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near, nor moth destroys."

Luke 3:11. And [John the Baptist] would answer and say to them, "Let the man with two tunics share with him who has none, and let him who has food do likewise."

Mt. 5:42. Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.

Blessings for those who care for the poor

Prov. 22:9 He who is generous will be blessed, for he gives some of his food to the poor.

Jer. 22:16 "Did not your father eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him. He pled the cause of the afflicted and needy; then it was well. Is that not what it means to know Me?" declares the LORD.

Deut. 15:10. You shall give generously to [your poor brother], and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all your undertakings.

Prov. 19:17. He who is gracious to a poor man lends to the LORD, and He will repay him for his good deed.

Jer. 7:5-7. "For, if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly practice justice between a man and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own ruin, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever."

Is. 58:10. "And if you give yourself to the hungry, and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness, and your gloom will become like midday. And the LORD will continually guide you, and satisfy your desire in scorched places, and give strength to your bones; and you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail."

Luke 14:12-14. "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return, and repayment come to you. But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

Consequences of not serving the poor

Ezek. 16:49ff. "Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food, and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them when I saw it."

Is. 10:1-3. "Woe to those who enact evil statutes, and to those who continually record unjust decisions, so as to deprive the needy of justice, and rob the poor of My people of their rights... Now what will you do in the day of punishment, and in the devastation which will come from afar?"

Luke 1:52ff. [Mary's Magnificat.] "He has brought down rulers from their thrones, and has exalted those who were hungry. He has filled the hungry with good things; and sent away the rich empty-handed."

Ezek. 22:29,31. "The people of the land have practiced oppression and committed robbery, and they have wronged the poor and needy and have oppressed the sojourner without justice... Thus I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; their way I have brought upon their heads," declares the Lord GOD.

Jer. 5:28f. "[The wicked] do not plead the cause, the cause of the orphan, that they may prosper; and they do not defend the rights of the poor. Shall I not punish these people?" declares the LORD. "On such a nation as this, shall I not avenge myself?"

James 5:1-6. Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. ...Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and with you have withheld, cries out against you; and the outcry of the harvesters has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.

Luke 6:24. "But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full."

Luke 16:19-25. "Now there was a certain rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, gaily living in splendor every day. And a certain poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, and longing to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table; besides, even the dogs would come and lick his sores. 

Now it came about that the poor man died and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. And in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham far away, and Lazarus in his bosom. 

And he cried out and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue; for I am in agony in this flame.' 

But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony...'"

Then there are the elderly.  So much talk of cutting their safety net.  Now, if we were a culture that still took care of their elders, maybe that wouldn't be such a big deal.  But we're not.  We're a culture that puts our seniors in homes and visits when it is holiday time, or our consciences bug us too much.  Now, I know not all of us do that (we took care of my husband's mother, and I know others who do the same) but ...come on, it's pretty common now.  How do you think God feels about us neglecting our seniors and then wanting to cut their money and security as well?

1 Timothy 5:8 

But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

Ephesians 6:2 

“Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise),

James 1:27

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

'Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the LORD.'

- Leviticus 19:32

Proverbs 23:22 "Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old."

My favorite verses concerning the poor, the elderly and the outcasts come from Jesus Himself.  He taught in Matthew that those who take care of the poor, the elderly, the outcasts out of love for Him will be rewarded and be with Christ in eternity.  But those who don't do those things, even if they preach the right words, yet do not have love and compassion for the weak- well, they go to destruction...to hell.

Matthew 25:31-46

New International Version (NIV)

The Sheep and the Goats

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Remember- your life must show your faith.  If you have true faith, it will show in your love for others, especially the weak of our society.  If our lives show no actions towards those God wants us to love and care for- do we have faith at all?

James 2:15-17

"Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."

I know many good and faithful conservatives, people I am proud to call friends and family.  I know many modern Pharisees as well, who think that because they warm a pew on Sunday and give a tithe...well, that entitles them to preach hate, to cut help to the poor and needy and to look on with disdain those who most need help. I pray they actually start reading their Bibles and become saved....for unless we do as Christ commands us to do- we don't make it to Heaven.  Everyone needs to make sure their faith is true, and is shown through how they treat others.  That includes how we treat the homeless man on the corner, how we vote, and what jokes we tell with our friends.  Does your life reflect the teachings of Christ?