Tag Archives: health and wealth

The Wealth of Godliness

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1 Timothy 6

True godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. (verse 6)

Can you have godliness without contentment? I doubt it. But you can go through the motions of godly living and be miserable.

Paul speaks of people who make a show of godliness, believing it is a way to become wealthy. He says their minds are corrupt and they have turned their backs on the truth. (6:5) That’s serious.

I believe first of all, Scripture tells us a truly godly person will have the mind of Christ, who didn’t cling to the riches of heaven, but instead chose to become a human being, to live and die for sinful man. (Philippians 2:5-11)

Jesus’ example of godly living was love, compassion, purity, hating sin, and doing everything to reveal the glory of God. (John 1:14)

A truly godly person wears, not his own righteousness, but the righteousness of Jesus through the cleansing blood of the Savior. (Ephesians 4:23-5:2)

A truly godly person learns to be content in every situation: wealth or poverty, health or illness, life or death. (Philippians 4:11-18)

After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it. (1 Timothy 6:7)

Paul gives a warning to those who pretend to be godly in order to get some windfall, some check in the mail, or win the lottery:

But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows. (6:9-10)

So, if not money, what is this great wealth Paul insists comes from true godliness?

Love. Joy. Peace. Patience. Kindness. Goodness. Faithfulness. Gentleness. Self-control.

You can’t buy those things even with a Trump or Musk bank account.

The great wealth from true godly living is the very Presence of God in this life and in eternity. It’s hope. It’s forgiveness. It’s Jesus!

“Well, that doesn’t pay the bills now, does it?” you might argue.

Why do you think God should pay your bills? Scripture has a lot to say about working and having a good work ethic. But that’s not what Paul is talking about here in his letter to Timothy. Paul is talking about people who want more than simply having their needs met.

Paul is talking about priorities. Why do you follow Jesus?

Paul is talking about what is truly important, eternally important. And Scripture tells us nothing is more important than your relationship with your Savior.

Are you in it for the money? There’s a health and wealth gospel that says you can have it, and have it abundantly if you go through the motions of godly living. But Paul is here to tell you that’s going to plunge you into ruin and destruction.

My prayer is that you will choose Jesus for who He is, not for your bank account. Choose Jesus for the riches of Himself, today and forever. There is absolutely nothing that compares to the wealth of godliness.

Give It All

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Mark 10, Mathew 19, Luke 18

To some people, hearing Jesus talk about the rewards promised His followers has them expecting a financial windfall. The prosperity false gospel of Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland, Kenneth Hagin, Joel Osteen, Robert Tilton, Hillsong, some of the Pentecostal and charismatic churches, etc. all place their faith in it. Health and wealth are promised to followers of God, they proclaim.

They expect to receive 100X as much in return for their investment. After all, that’s what Jesus said.

Even some who reject the prosperity false gospel’s interpretation of these verses, still fixate on the level of reward they will receive in heaven They’ll put up with being the least in this life if they can have a front row seat in glory. After all, that’s what Jesus said.

But the point of what Jesus said to the young man in these verses is this: GIVE IT ALL. And “all” isn’t just material possessions. It’s family, career, reputation, social position, a seat on the Board, your health, etc. It’s your very life.

That’s the point of the lesson. Give it all, and trust God with everything, including your future. Give it all. Don’t hold back. Jesus wants us to hear Him say that in order to follow Him we must submit everything to Him with open hands, like jumping out of a plane with no parachute. You relinquish control, and allow Him to do as He wills. The reward isn’t the goal. Submission is.

Don’t make this about what you will get out of following Jesus. Make it only about what God will receive as a result of your total submission to Him.

Give your SELF to Him. Give it all.

COVID19 on the Cross (Isaiah 49-53)

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Isaiah clearly says in 53:5, “by his wounds, we are healed.” I watched a YouTube video of a popular preacher who insisted that Christians should not be struggling with physical illnesses because Jesus nailed our diseases to the cross. He quoted a partial verse (Isaiah 53:5b) to support his opinion.

The 53rd chapter of Isaiah is a beautiful picture of Jesus, so accurate in every way, and Isaiah is speaking in the past tense – which is thrilling to me! Our Savior was despised, rejected, beat up and pierced. Why? Because of my sin and yours. God laid on Jesus the inequity of us all. (vs 6)

If you don’t read anything else today, I hope you’ll take time to read Isaiah 53 and fall in love with Jesus all over again. But also notice the emphasis, the “why” Jesus did what He did. I challenge you to find any reference to physical illness, unless you distort verse 5b like some do.

The whole sentence says it was our transgressions, our iniquities, the punishment we deserved for sin was upon Him, and by those wounds incurred from the beatings and the nails piercing His flesh, we are healed from those transgressions, iniquities, and free from the punishment our sins deserve.

Jesus didn’t die on the cross to make you happy or physically immune from sickness. You aren’t cured from COVID19 at the cross. But you are cured from the disease of sin there. Sin no longer has any power over you when you kneel at the cross.

I hate to tell you this but you might get COVID19. You might get cancer, or dementia, or you might break a leg, or lose your eyesight. That has nothing to do with the grace of God that forgives sin when we confess our sin. The cross was and is about sin.

I’m not going to ask you if you have any COVID symptoms. I will ask you if you have any symptoms of sin. I won’t ask if you have been healed from cancer or a virus or a booboo. I will ask you if you have been healed from sin by accepting what Jesus did for you on the cross. I won’t ask you what you know about COVID. I will ask you if you know the Savior that Isaiah so beautifully described in this chapter.

Jesus died with your sins on His shoulders. I pray you’ve met Him at the cross, and allowed His grace to flow over you, healing you from the disease of sin.

Psalms 73-78; It’s Worth It

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Have you ever watched an awards show on TV, or read the news about a million dollar athlete who beat his wife, or sat back and watched that dishonest coworker get all the promotions, while you struggle to make ends meet? You think, “They have it all, and they blatantly deny God. Why do I bother?”

The psalmist was thinking along those lines in Psalm 73. He admitted he almost lost his way, “For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” (vs 3)

Then in verse 13 he adds, “Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence.”

Is he right? Are we who love and obey God foolishly living meaningless lives?

The psalmist says that was exactly what he was thinking “till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.” When the psalmist turned his eyes toward heaven, he recognized the truth; that this life is temporary. Another life is ahead.

Psalm 78 recounts the ways God worked in the lives of the children of Israel; how He blessed their obedience, punished their disobedience, and forgave them every time they repented.

He (God) remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return.” (78:39)

That describes your life, too. Life on Earth is just a passing breeze, and once it’s passed, there is no coming back. No do-overs. This is your moment to decide your eternity.

Is your neighbor’s bank account that important in light of eternity? I guarantee when you stand before God, He’s not going to ask you about your neighbor.

Many people seem to want the good life, with no health problems, to have without earning, or to get ahead at all cost. They measure their happiness or success according to the things they have. You know them, health and wealth are their goals.

I’ve heard the question asked: “What good is it to live the good life, to accumulate things, and die a peaceful death, if death ushers you into a painful eternity, void of any goodness, light, or hope?

I encourage you to read these psalms today and let them remind you that God is a just judge. Your impatience to see wicked people get what you think they deserve is God’s patience while He works in their hearts for eternity’s sake. It’s never about the things, or the success, or what you perceive as their happiness. It’s about a loving God who died for them and wants to call them His own.

Take your eyes off people. Quit telling God how You think He ought to be handling wicked people. Throw off jealousy. Those things are robbing you of the peace and joy that God wants to give you as His child. It’s robbing you of a right relationship with your Savior, with our loving God who is anxious to welcome you home to an eternity that is so much better than anything– ANYTHING — this world can offer.

Trust Him. It’s worth it.

July 18 – Worthless, Delightful Plants

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Isaiah 13-17

I was reading about God’s prophecy concerning Damascus. That great city was set for destruction.

For you have forgotten the God of your salvation and have not remembered the rock of your refuge. (17:10a)

But it’s what follows that verse that got my attention this morning:

Therefore you plant delightful plants and set them with vine slips of a strange god. In the day you plant it you carefully fence it in, and in the morning you bring your seed to blossom; but the harvest will be a heap in a day of sickliness and incurable pain. (17:10b-11)

I think about what is being preached from far too many pulpits. God is love. Love wins. God wants you to be healthy and rich. Don’t judge. Come to God on your terms. Everyone goes to heaven. Sin is relative.

Delightful plants! Feel good sermons. Love! Love! Love!

Delightful – and deadly. May God help us examine that which we plant by our words, our choices, our very lives. I can’t imagine anyone purposefully planting a garden of weeds. Let’s not do that in our lives, either.

The Bible Hurts My Feelings

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God is speaking through Jeremiah concerning those prophets who claim to speak for God  – but don’t. (Jeremiah 23) These liars are preaching a health and wealth gospel at the same time Jeremiah is telling them how angry God is, and how God is going to punish them for their disobedience. 

The false prophets tell them they are ok: “Don’t worry! The Lord says you will have peace!… No harm will come your way.” (23:17)

The thing is, God’s Word is not a “feel good” book. In fact, in verse 29 of the same chapter, God asks, “Does not my word burn like fire?… Is it not like a mighty hammer that smashes a rock to pieces?”

I think that’s why there are so many different religions out there. I mean, who wants to worship a God who makes you feel bad about yourself? So let’s make up a theology that tells us how great we are, how worthy, how powerful we are in and of ourselves to become better and better. We want to believe we are ok just the way we are. If you listen, you’ll recognize those lies in some of the most popular churches spewed by some of the most famous preachers of our time. Maybe even in your home town, in tiny churches, that go unnoticed expect for the faithful few who attend.

But have you ever experienced that heavy blow that comes from the realization that you are wrong? Have you felt the convicting fire of the Holy Spirit over unconfessed sin? It’s not comfortable, is it? It might even hurt your feelings, big time.

When you are at that point, you have a choice. You can tell yourself you’re ok, you can repeat a mantra to make yourself feel better, you can self-medicate, or even learn to live with the discomfort. Or you can accept what Jesus died to give you.

Forgiveness.

Then you can know the spiritual health that comes from having a pure heart. You can enjoy the wealth of having the God of Creation living in you, the sure hope of eternity with him. No false theology can come close to it!

So I challenge you read the Bible for yourself. But get ready to have your feelings hurt. If you ask God to speak to you through his Word, he will. He will tell you you are lost without him. He will tell you you are a sinner. He will tell you you are wicked, self centered, unclean. But he will also tell you about his love and his grace. He will tell you about how he went to the cross to pay for your sins. And he will ask you to come to him, to say you’re sorry and mean it, to allow him to turn your life around…

And bless you beyond what you could ever ask or even think.

God, thank you for tearing down all my defenses, for making me look at myself the way you see me. I am a sinner. There is nothing good in me. And I have to tell you, that hurts my feelings a little. But, God, I also want to thank you for lifting me up, for forgiving me when I asked you to, for blessing me with yourself. Thank you for your Word that cuts… and heals. Thank you for you!