Health and Wealth?

Today’s devotional in Blackaby is entitled, “The Key to Prosperity” and addresses 2 Chronicles 31:21. Blackaby notes that the key to prosperity is to “diligently pursue the will of God.” Agreed.

But how does today’s devotional read for the man who has been out of work for 17 months? How does it read to the single mom working 2 jobs and who is still struggling to make her mortgage payment? How does it read for the 34 year old woman who is going through her second bout with cancer and is taking chemotherapy treatments? How does is read for the father of four kids, the youngest of which has a rare syndrome and will be undergoing yet another test today in preparation for 6th surgery in two years?

Where is the prosperity in the lives of these people? As they each “diligently pursue the will of God”, will they experience the prosperity that Hezekiah experienced in 2 Chronicles 31?

The problem comes when define prosperity in terms of health and wealth. A poor man can prosper and never see a bank account that has more than $23 in it. A woman with cancer can prosper and never get better. For the Christian, ultimate prosperity comes in the form of an inheritance far greater than money and wellness. When the word inheritance is used in the New Testament, it is most often used to speak of our “inheritance” of eternal life; what we will receive when all things are culminated in a new heaven and a new earth.

The inheritance we read about in 1 Peter 1:3-5 is far greater than a bigger house or a clean bill of health. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

Now that is prosperity worth preaching about!

Richard Carwile
Adult Discipleship Pastor