Prosperity

The parable that Jesus told about the rich man and Lazarus, is very well known. Mostly because it is usually used to explain that there are two destinies after death – Heaven for Lazarus (described as Abraham’s bosom here), and Hell for the rich man.

What we may sometimes miss in the reading of these verses is the fact that Lazarus, despite loving God deeply and keeping his faith unto the end of his life, had exceedingly difficult circumstances to live with. In fact, he is described as utterly destitute, reduced to begging alms to stay alive, and in poor health with ulcerated sores covering his body. He had nowhere to stay and was dropped down and left at the rich man’s gate, where it seems he was not cared for either, existing on the leftovers casually thrown away from the rich man’s table. None of these circumstances made a dent in his steadfast belief in his God, evidenced by the fact that he was found in the bosom of Abraham, or Heaven, upon his death.

This flies in the face of the teachings of what is known as the prosperity gospel – that brand of Christianity that holds that God wants believers to be physically healthy; materially wealthy; and personally happy at all times, and that the absence of all of these therefore is symbolic of a faith that is simply not good enough.

What is the foundation of these claims? The fact that we are Abraham’s spiritual children is widely given as reason that we also inherit the material blessings of wealth promised in the Abrahamic covenant. This is referred to in Gal 3:14 “so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles,” but we cannot ignore the rest of the verse: “so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.” Paul is referring to the spiritual blessing of salvation here, not the material blessing of wealth. Good health is God’s intention for us, and Jesus bought us this right at the cross. However, God sometimes allows illness to accomplish His will, as we read about the man blind from birth in John 9:3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” As to the role your faith plays in falling ill or not, it is not just wayward believers who get sick: Paul himself had a physical ailment that the Lord declined to heal; he left Trophimus sick in Miletus; he advised Timothy to drink wine for his stomach ailment.

Does this mean that it is God’s will for us to be poor, ill, and unhappy? Of course not! But it means that when we do find ourselves in unpleasant circumstances, we will not be shamed into thinking that it is solely the result of our lack of faith, as listening and heeding to the teachings of these so-called prosperity teachers might do. Our circumstances can turn out to be less than favourable because of wrong choices we made; or because of sin in our lives; or because of ignorance; or because of external meddling in the form of witchcraft for instance.

Points to ponder: Am I clinging to my faith in Jesus through all circumstances of my life?