Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing
into this world, and it is certain we can carry
nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content (1)
1 Timothy 6.6-8
Not too long ago, I was meditating on this
lead scripture and I began to marvel at how much the body of Christ has moved
away from the wisdom contained in it. What do I mean? The scripture preaches
and encourages contentment. But what we often hear preached today is the exact
opposite, in the name of prosperity messages.
The way many believers go on about getting
rich, you would imagine that the main reason God gets people born again is
simply to make them financially rich. I have been at services where the pastor
encouraged people to give their lives to Christ so they could become
prosperous. While in a sense the gospel of Jesus is a full gospel that is able
to transform the believer spirit, soul and body, and to this extent prosper
them, we must continue to stress that this is NOT the salvation message.
Indeed, many are saved who are not rich and are not likely to be rich until
they die. And we must always remember that no less a person than Jesus made
this statement in John 12.8, “The poor you will always have in your midst”. He was talking to believers.
While it is necessary to assure every
believer that one of the benefits of the new life in Christ is financial
prosperity, it is not conditional to accepting Jesus as Lord and Saviour.
Rather, as we encourage believers to work hard and position themselves for
God’s blessings through obedience, we must harp more on the doctrines of
godliness. There are millions of rich people in the world who are not believers
and who don’t live right with God. God is more interested in the Christian
whose life will mirror His instructions in godliness and righteous living than
one who can boast of many financial and material assets, as needful as they
are.
To underscore this, Jesus warns us all in Luke 12.15, “Take
heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the
abundance of the things he possesses."
We will conclude this mini series tomorrow
by His grace. Enjoy your week.
‘Lolu Akinwunmi
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