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