“Does one have to be poor or more in need than others to be considered a genuine Christian?”
As we are different people on earth we are bound to have different values, interests and different ways in which we conduct our lives. Even in Christianity, we attend different churches and follow different Christian methods. However, what makes us all similar is that a vast majority of us believe in the same powers, that of God.
There is an ongoing scare in our human nature that somehow permits us to distinguish ourselves from one on another by the level of sincerity as we all come before God. Since early years as I grew up, I have always observed that people who were affluent & focused on their success were perceived as far away from God or not serious about God. My other observations were, a majority of Christians who were ‘saved’ or ‘born again’ were all poor people and people who come from troubled homes. As a child this created a lot of confusion because, my background teachings were all of the above – we were firm Christians at home and still believed in money and success.
Even today, financial success and Christianity continues to contradict each other. In all fairness, people who are in successful positions in life turn to get too busy to a point that Christianity methods just turn to pass them by. The handful that you find active in churches continues to be scrutinised with the view point that they rule-over God’s powers with money powers.
In my opinion, we Christians have a narrow understanding on how one should be serving God. There is an old significant traditional way of serving God which is waking up every Sunday morning to go praise Him at churches and follow the proceedings thereof. This is one strong engine that can never stop & all Christians should strive for it however, it can never be the umpire of people’s faith in the Lord. We serve the Lord differently - some give their time, some their assets, some their souls and some just serve the Lord by helping others. As the scripture says, Jesus was the example of how God wanted us to be like – forgiving, kind, giving & faithful ...to mention the least. However; I get concerned about what we teaching our children, that God hates money & success? Where do material blessings come from? Deuteronomy 8:18 says “Remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth.” It is when these material blessings take the centre of our lives that God’s place is replaced. Jeremiah 9:23 says “...let not the rich man boasts about his riches but boast about that he understands and know Me, that I am the Lord....”
God wants us to be happy and frankly, money & success makes us happy. It is us who create evil around the blessings that God gives us on earth. Jesus warns us through St Luke (12:15), He says, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” God does not want us to suffer; Timothy (1 Timothy-6:10) is often quoted out of context when he talks about money as root of all evil. My understanding of the verse is: the overwhelming love of money is the root of evil, the soul of a person who cherishes money is bound to wander from the faith and get trapped into foolish & harmful desires. With this verse I understand that you cannot serve both God & money – you need to make money and serve God.
God wants all man to prosper! Let there be no priest who is poor because s/he chose to serve the Lord. Let there be no Christian who is poor because s/he chose to be ‘saved’. God is against greed not prosperity. Let there be no Christian who is satisfied by a minimum, whereas God has blessed us with talents and abilities to have more. There is a concerning statement often used by lazy Christians that goes “God will provide”. In my opinion, God has provided already – you are able and powerful. The only thing that is left of you is to go out there and strive. The way we interpret the scripture is not inviting to those who are still away from the word of God. We chose to be God’s disciples on earth, but only the Lord knows who are ‘the chosen’ ones.
Go make money as much as you can, prosper, get rich if possible. Money is no evil; it’s the evil in us that creates wrong attitudes towards wealth. All we need to remember is to serve the Lord and keep our heart desires with Him.
Until next time
Tamara Booi