Should the Religious Remain Poor?

Should the religious shy away from earning money? Is money the root of all evil?

We have been taught,

"Blessed are you who are  poor, for yours is the kingdom of heaven" -Luke 6:20

And in Matthew 6:24

.“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."

And in Matthew 10:25

"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

Does this mean if we want to gain favor from God, we should remain poor?

Tradition, especially here in the Philippines, has always taught the religious that God always favors the poor. That to gain so much money is sinful. But is that the real case? Does our God who provides for everything want us to remain poor?

Hello, readers. It's August 22 and the fourth Sunday of the month. Welcome to another edition of my Sunday Reflection.

In this post, I will share with you my thoughts on Financial Prosperity based on the Bible.

Disclaimer

Before anything else, I would like to emphasize that I am not a Bible scholar, a theologist, nor a preacher. The content of this post is my personal reflection based on my understanding of and I do not intend to preach.

The Eye of the Needle.

Let me clarify this one first. When I was young I had a misconception about this verse as well. Jesus was not talking about the eye of the needle that we use for sewing. But I think this common misconception or misinterpretation of the verse has instilled a belief that a rich person can't go to heaven.

But I heard the correct interpretation from at least two priests on different occasions.

The eye of the needle described in this Bible verse refers to a narrow door of a gate. During the time of Jesus, this narrow door was used by the people to enter when the gates were closed. And for a camel to go through the eye of the needle, it must be stripped down first of all the baggage it's carrying and has to "crawl" through the narrow door.

Image source: 1.bp.blogspot.com

It is difficult, but not impossible

God Wants to Bless Us Financially Too.

I don't believe God wants us to remain poor. If he does, why did he save the Israelites from the Egyptians as described in the book of Exodus?

I don't believe that God would limit his blessings to our spiritual life alone. But I believe he wants to bless us financially as well.

Here is a verse which describes how God wants to bless us 

"The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of His bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none."

Deuteronomy 28:12 NIV

Reflection

This is a beautiful verse. The Lord will open the storehouse of His bounty to bless all our work. 

And how bountiful are these blessings?

More than enough so that we can lend to others but we no longer need to borrow money. Freedom from debts! Isn't that we all want? To be free from all our debts?

And how can we receive all these blessings?

As you can see, God will not pour out gold and jewels directly from the heavens (just imagine you got hit by gold bars in the head). But He will provide the resources so we can be productive in our WORK!

That's the condition. We do our part, and He will bless us!

(Sorry guys. God doesn't work like the Genie that your wishes will be granted instantly).

Gather Money Little by little

Here is a secret in growing your moNIV

.

"Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow."

Proverbs 13:11

I have posted the image above with a short reflection in noisecash earlier.

https://noise.cash/post/1x9v88mk

But here is a more general short reflection on this verse

Reflection.

Don't try to earn money quickly by doing dishonest work. The money you earned will be more valuable to you if you worked hard for it. You don't want to waste every centavo of it. And you would even find ways to make it grow.

Final Thoughts

God wants to bless us financially just as He wants us to grow spiritually. And we will grow only if we work on it and have the right reasons.

And as the Preached in Blue Jeans, Bro. Bo Sanchez would always say, "If you want to be blessed, be a blessing to others."

Thanks for reading and have a blessed Sunday!

Credits:

This reflection is based on the 7-day study "The Ways of Prosperity" of the Bible App

The lead image is from Unsplash