Morning Moments

Peace, Prosperity, and Possessions

Job 1:1 (KJV)
1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.
This is the “gospel” of many today, but it is another “gospel” that should be rejected. It is accepted because that is what most folks wish to hear. It is the show business big business of our day when money and materialism reign.

I sometimes wonder what these charlatans would have preached during the Great Depression. The thing that breaks my heart is that in my travels around the world I often see Christians with little or nothing who are some of the most godly and giving people I have ever known.

When Jesus inspired John to write the book of Revelation, He wrote these words to the church in Smyrna, “I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich)...” Paul wrote of the Macedonians that they “...in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.” In the God's Word translation - 1 Brothers and sisters, we want you to know how God showed his kindness to the churches in the province of Macedonia. 2 While they were being severely tested by suffering, their overflowing joy, along with their extreme poverty, has made them even more generous. 3 I assure you that by their own free will they have given all they could, even more than they could afford.

On the other hand we see the church of Laodicea that thought of themselves as “rich and increased with goods, and having need of nothing, BUT they were poor and wretched and miserable, and blind” in God's eyes.

God said of Job that there was none like him in all the earth. He had everything but lost it all. In his loss of everything and suffering beyond measure, he exclaimed, “Thou He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” That, my friend, is the true test of our commitment to the Lord. It is not the ability to gain a following of supporters. It is not the accumulation of money of material things. It is not the security of a good retirement plan or smart investments in the market. Lost people experience all these things. BUT to be the same man or woman of God through gain or loss, wealth or poverty, good times or bad, glad times or sad, ups and downs, ins and outs, THAT is the life of the child of God who loves Him with all the heart, mind, soul, and strength.

Don't get lost in your own ability to gain wealth and don't be thinking all these things are a sign of your godliness. When you lose it all and are left with nothing but the clothes on your back, if then, you remain true and faithful and godly, as did Job, THEN God will in God's view there will be few like you, if any, in all the earth. SELAH!

BLESSINGS!