We each are given a different cross to bear...some of us may never experience poverty - I mean, we're Americans, of course not, right?? Even those that are really struggling don't even come close to most of the world.
What if your cross to bear is becoming rich? What if that is the hardest cross to bear of them all? The Bible says that money is the root of all evil. It's because money becomes our master. It's an obvious truth if we have an entire gospel centered around it! If God wants to bless US then we can keep it, we can live extravagantly. But, what if our cross to bear is God blessing us so that we can turn around and give it all away?! There is a world bigger than America, full of people that are far below the poverty line that we Americans have. I am not saying that providing for their physical needs is more important than providing for their spiritual needs but, faith without works is dead. What I am saying is that God has a heart for the WORLD to come back to Him, so what if the cross we have to bear is essentially providing the funds for that to be accomplished even if it means denying ourselves of what He has given us?
Being wealthy is not wrong if God has provided us with the platform to be there. But with great power comes great responsibility (name that movie quote! ;D). Half the world thinks Americans are prideful and self-centered (I learned ;)) and it's probably because we've been blessed worldly. As Christians living in America, we have a responsibility to give to the least of these and partner with God in ministering the Gospel to the world.
This is why I firmly believe it is biblical to become righteously angry at the injustice going on around us and even corrupting the Church. Jesus "threw down" in the temple when the people were selling things in the temple, corrupting what was supposed to be a place of prayer. He knew the hearts of the people and he got angry at the sin.
It says, "In your anger, do not sin." It doesn't say. "Don't get angry, but instead act like everything is okay, always have a smile on, and think positively every second because we don't want to offend anyone." Haha, you get my point. ;)
I have to be honest, I have become righteously angry again. God is confirming His calling on my life over and over, it seems. I have a little too much fire in me to stay content and sit back while I see truth being misinterpreted. But, He's also teaching me how to control that and pray instead of criticize. The reason why it brings me to tears is because it boils down to the Gospel. It's not because I'm judging or criticizing people and having a "negative" attitude, but it's because the beautiful Gospel is being slandered. He died because we sinned and we desperately needed saving! It's beautiful because it's the grandest show of restoration! And we are called to take up our crosses, to die to ourselves so that HE can live through us! That can either be through us financially being blessed so we can be a blessing to those in need and further His Kingdom (what is His Kingdom but His Gospel expanded into the ends of the earth?) or us selling everything and GOING into the ends of the earth to live and minister to those who have never heard of the magnificent Restoration.
I feel that He has called me to a mixture of both. I have both a heart for the unreached people of the world and the church of America. I think I am called to what's called Mobilization. I want to see the American Church take the stand we have been given, come together, and use our platform to reach the world. I have a heart for helping people understand God's heart for the world and finding their place in it. I could see myself eventually being full-time on the mission field living alongside a people group but what really gets me going is to see others get the fire so that we can start a massive awakening in the Church and then in the world!
I think that is why I get so righteously angry at the prosperity Gospel that has so taken the American church by storm! Because what it does is it takes the focus off God and His heart for the world and puts it on the American "me-me-me" mentality of God blessing us for us! Do you notice that for the most part it is found in our Western world? It's simply because it wouldn't fly in third world countries! How do you go into a country where they are simply the poorest of poor and tell them that God is going to bless them if they obey Him? What happens when He doesn't?! They begin to ask, "Where are you, God?" If we in America ask that question, how much more so would they?!?
And at what cost are we reaching people if it's by those means? What Gospel are they truly hearing if it's about God blessing them? Sure, it brings the people in and they "accept Him" but who are they really accepting? Take for instance the verse Deuteronomy 8:18 which starts by saying, "You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the power to get wealth..." I just read a pastor stopping at the part, portraying that God gives us the power to get wealth. But, sadly, he failed to take into context the actual verse and read the rest. The rest says, "...that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day." Here is where it gets me fired up! During that time God made many covenants to Abraham and his descendants that would say, "If you do this and this and obey me, I will bless you and your descendants." So that is what He was talking about during this time period. If they remembered God, instead of turning away from Him like they kept doing time and time again, God would bless them and show them as an example to...GET THIS...the WORLD!
Boom! That's the point! Then when Christ came, He became the New Covenant. His atonement was made so that our sins would be forgiven! That if we realize our sin and our depravity and Christ becomes our everything, we will be saved...and blessed! But...it doesn't stop there...because what did Christ speak on?! He, being the New Covenant that we are under, taught to deny ourselves. He taught to take up our cross and follow Him. He said that a man must hate his mother, father, family, even himself more than Christ and follow Him.
He also taught to love radically...He taught to give to the least of these. He said that in this world we will face many troubles but to take heart for He has overcome the world!
So why does the Prosperity Gospel get me righteously angry? Because it's a Gospel that teaches us to sit under a covenant that we no longer live under and calls it Jesus. I'm sorry, but to me, that's eternally dangerous.
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