07/14/2024
This morning we will contemplate the effect that material prosperity and good health have on our spiritual growth and wellbeing. E. M. Bounds, the author of my morning devotional reading, was so concerned about the negative effects of financial success and other worldly possessions on us as Christians, and the church as a whole, that he wrote these words:
"It may easily blind the eyes of church leaders, so much so that they will make it a substitute for spiritual prosperity. We must be careful not to do this." – E. M. Bounds
Years ago I read an article about the different ways that men and women judged themselves and determined their success in life, or in other words, judged their self-worth. Things have changed, and roles have blurred, since that reading, but at that time men gauged their self-worth on their success as providers, and their financial advancement, while women judged themselves according to their ability to make a home and nurture a family. This is an over simplification, but you can see that we all continue to have certain goals and accomplishments that we use as a rule to measure our individual progress and success.
Churches and religious entities also have certain goals that they use to judge their success. Bounds warns them about the danger of using financial success as their mark, but there are others that are very similar... the size and beauty of the church, cathedral, or temple building for example, or the number of members, how large the church staff is, and many other material notches on our church's yardstick.
Scripture warns individuals of faith about this as well...
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Matthew 6:21 ESV
Bounds went on to say, "Financial prosperity does not signify growth in holiness. The seasons of material prosperity are rarely seasons of spiritual advance, either to the individual or to the church."
Have you ever experienced a time of trial or suffering that has brought you to your knees before God? Did you find that it strengthened your faith and holiness as you moved through that hardship? A few years ago I received an email from a college classmate that had just learned of my battle with cancer after reading an email I had written. Interestingly, it turns out, he had a similar fight with cancer at almost the same time. I was touched when I read the words he used to describe his own experience...
"You are absolutely correct about it being a spiritual journey... So, what God could not do through drugs and alcohol (30 years ago) He was able to accomplish with cancer. What more can I say except, “Praise be to God!”"
He had found a deeper and more robust relationship with God through the suffering that the Lord helped him navigate. His cancer has left a physical mark on him yet the advancement in his faith had become how he gauged the experience. This sounds familiar to me not only in my own personal life, but in scripture...
“And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
1 Peter 5:10-11 ESV
The times of health and prosperity in my life have been seasons on a plateau of faith. They haven't been times of spiritual advancement, but rather they were times of rest as I gathered my strength for what lay ahead. They can also be pitfalls in which our faith becomes complacent and erodes. Bounds said it like this:
"It is so easy to lose sight of God when wealth increases. It is so easy to lean on human agencies and cease praying and relying upon God when material prosperity comes to the church."
So whether it is us as individuals, or our churches; God uses adversity to teach us spiritual lessons. What comes from a full bank account is simply the largesse of this world, but what comes from suffering is an advancement in faith and a spiritual growth bestowed upon us by God.
If you are facing trials in your life this morning, or your church is struggling through a tough time, then count this a blessing and pray for God to take the wheel and increase your faith and understanding. On the other hand, if all is well with you and your church, and the world's rewards are plentiful, pray that your faith not falter and that your strength be replenished for future calls from the Lord. Keep your hand in Christ's and ask Him to lead you on, and to bestow in you an increase of holiness.
“Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly."
Romans 5:2-6 ESV
I know that many of us are suffering this morning, and I pray for you from Psalms 102; join me, and let's pray this short but powerful prayer together:
“Hear my prayer, O Lord; let my cry come to you! Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress! Incline your ear to me; answer me speedily in the day when I call! For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace.”
Psalms 102:1-3 ESV
Amen.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for the suffering and hard times we experience in the world because each one of them draws us closer to you, and allows you to speak to us in ways that a life of comfort and complacency cannot. We don’t enjoy the pain Lord, but feeling your hand as you rub the salve of faith upon our wounds comforts us, and teaches us of you, and your love for us. Help us to pray in the midst of our tribulations; not for our will to be done, but yours. Help us to pray as we should for those around us who are facing trials and dealing with pain. Guide our words by your Spirit such that we are directed to ask that your will be done for them… even as it is for us. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who sent your Son Jesus to not only redeem us of our sins, and defeat death for us, but to show us the power that His suffering had on the faith of the world, and to teach us how to grow in both faithfulness and endurance through tribulation. We see in Him that one does not exclude the other, but that they go hand in hand. Praised be your name Father for life, and for all that it pours into us as we worship you in the hardships we encounter along the way. Hear our prayers, and know our hearts as we lean into you during every time of temptation, trial, and tribulation. Increase the strength of our faith, our love for you, and our obedience to you will. See our worthiness in every tear that we cry, moan we utter in pain, and pleading prayer we offer up in the midst of our suffering. Use these seasons of pain and suffering to grow us Abba, and to advance your church. Then, when the lesson is complete, give us peace and rest through times of plenty, and good health. In both of these we will praise you Father, and cling to your Son Jesus, and the truth in your Word. Call us worthy… church and saints alike.
“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints.”
Colossians 1:24-26 ESV
Rich Forbes