The American Heresy - Prosperity Gospel, Part 2

I want to discuss the flip side of this issue now. What should be your attitude/actions if you DO have wealth, nice things, great opportunities, and/or good health?

If you have been so blessed, many Christians' natural response is guilt. I don't believe this needs to be the case. If God has blessed you beyond what you deserve, you don't need to live in guilt. But I believe you do need to live with an overwhelming sense of responsibility. The answer to your question of "Why has God blessed me so much?" is "So that you can bless others."

The verse I quoted in the last post that spoke of the godliness that comes from contentment, is one of the truest marks of a mature Christian. Can you be content? I encourage everyone to have a tough conversation with their spouses or family members and ask "At what standard of living can we be content?" I'm not going to tell you the answer to that question, but I want to encourage you to come to a decision and stick with it. What size of house can we be content with? What type of car can I be content to drive? What amount of money can I be content to live off of?

When you come to the answers to these questions, something incredible can happen! If you make a conscious choice to live at that standard, you set yourself up for greater giving. When promotions and raises or higher paying jobs come your way, instead of increasing your standard of living, you are able to increase your standard of giving. It's not a sin to be rich, but it is a sin to be rich and not live with an awareness of why God has blessed you.

How many of you living on a meager wage have thought, "If I was making as much as so-and-so, I'd be living on easy street and there's no way I would complain about my finances the way they do. They don't know how good they have it."? But I guarantee you somebody somewhere is thinking the same thing about you! This is what happens when we don't seek contentment and raise our standard of living with every promotion/raise. It's the sickness of the American Dream - enough is NEVER enough.

I want to encourage you to let go of the American Dream and start dreaming the Kingdom Dream! The Kingdom Dream is a dream of God's people not living in financial bondage, content in the sufficiency of Jesus instead of the sufficiency of stuff, and giving from the overflow of God's blessings.

We are literally blessed among the nations. Don't squander it. Don't allow greed and covetousness to overcome you and warp your view of how blessed you are. Go make as much money as you possibly can, and give away as much money as you possibly can!