I’ve always had a problem with the prosperity gospel. Having enough faith won’t give you the house of your dreams and a private jet. It doesn’t work like that. If it did, Christians would have that stuff, and non-Christians wouldn’t.
In fact, in Matthew 5:45, Jesus says that God blesses unbelievers and believers equally. “For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.” The good things God has for us don’t actually depend on your belief in Him. We all get to experience the rain and the sunshine.
But at the same time, there is some special blessing offered to followers of Christ. What is it?
I see it as these three things.
1. Seeing the rain as good.
Depending on your perspective, rain can either seem like a blessing or a curse. And God gives us the opportunity to see everything He sends us from the positive perspective. Contentment with godliness is great gain. (1 Timothy 6:6)
By embracing the things that come our way, we can actually experience blessing when others might be tempted to complain.
2. Peace in trusting that more rain will come.
What about when things are dry? What about when the sun is scorching the earth? We can trust that God will send more rain. We know that His blessing of meeting our needs will come when the time is right. It won’t always be scorching sun, and it won’t always be drenching rain.
3. Wisdom to use the rain to its max.
Finally, believers have the wisdom of God on the inside of them. Whenever we feel like we lack wisdom, we can ask God for more and He will give it to use liberally. (James 1:5)
That wisdom can help us make the most out of every good thing God sends. We can use our finances wisely. We can steward relationships well. Nothing God sends us ever has to stay at face value; we can always get more from it by seeking God’s purposes for the blessing.
So while you might get filthy rich or you might live in poverty, you can experience a unique blessing of God by believing and following Him. It just doesn’t look like the world things “prosperity” should look like. But I guarantee there will be far more joy in these three things than in millions of dollars worth of possessions and experiences.