Prophets in designer suits and German engineering
To all my readers, I'm well and truly sorry for not having put something in here throughout the last six months. Of course, I assume blame, but the drought initially started when we were not allowed to access a whole lot of sites in the office, including blogger.com which was (and still is) put under the blocked list for "online sales and merchandise"!!!Anyways, life has been quite a cuppa tea (and you can imagine what that means to a caffeine addict) and anyways, 'I finally got some sense knocked into me' [Simba's dialouge in the Lion King] and so, here I am.
Lately, have been hearing a lot about prosperity and Christian life, but never really concerned myself about it until one very ugly newspaper article came up, which went on and on about how pastors and preachers apparently had enough to buy/posses their own Honda City and/or Mercedes-Benz cars and Armani suits. And interestingly, the guy who'd forwarded this message to my friend wondered if 'men of God' were allowed such 'excesses' in life.
My first concern was of course, whether men of God were allowed such excesses in life. Pardon me, but I couldn't really understand the mind of a person who'd love to have his own Mercedes-Benz or BMW or Audi or a Ferrari or a Rolls if he could afford it, and feel someone else wasn't supposed to because this 'someone else' is seen on a stage behind a pulpit. Now, what sort of sense is that? The OT has 10 commandments, and Jesus, rewrote the commandments, making them both simple and complicated at the same time. He simply said "Love your God above all else" and "Love your neighbour as yourself", and when you look carefully, you notice that 4 of the original 10 deal with Jesus' first commandment and the rest with the second. Bang in target, wouldn't you say? If I like something and would like to have it, couldn't someone else like the same thing too? It's sad to know such attitude prevails with Christians more than anywhere else.
And then, the sheer white-facedness of the person writing the article! Apparently, some pastor has his own Benz, and his son drives a City. Dude, if you want the same thing deep down, why don't you ask God for it? I'm not saying this myself; Jesus said so. "Ask, and you shall receive"; not "be a dog in the manger" for crying out loud! Our heavenly Father, still holds the right to give us or refrain from giving, but we, as His children are expected to ask. It may be something dumb, somethign we may not ask, but the Bible says God expects us to do so. After all, Jesus said 9"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. Matt 7:9-12
But then, I noticed another problem here. If I am one of those people who lead miserly lives, I can't very well expect others to follow my foot steps. Living like a hermit doesn't make me holier-than-thou! It may be what I decide to do with my life, but then, that's no reason to compel another person to live like me - I might as well ask you to eat grass like a cow - you know the look you'll give me.
People talk a lot about prosperity theories nowadays, and please understand - this is purely my personal opinion. Prosperity doesn't necessarily have to be material blessing. It could be spiritual, physical (health), popularity... anything. Even so, there is nothing that prohibits poeple of God from being financially well off, or practically rich. It is God's to give, to whomever He wills to give, not ours. Remember that parable where a man makes workers toil in his vineyard, and eventually gives the same wages to the guy who worked for hours and the guy who worked for less than an hour? That's God. That's the way He is - we are not expected to understand what He does, but neither are we expected to talk bad about what He's done for someone else.
And another area where people get carried away easily is with slandering 'famous' men and women of God. Good heavens! Aren't you gonna heap coals on your own head? Look at David - knowing Saul as well as he did, he never did anything to Saul. Vexed he was, what, with Saul chasing him mercilessly all his youth, but he wouldn't dare to speak or do anything against "the Lord's anointed". Would that such a thought plague Christians nowadays. Even if you are firmly convinced that someone is the embodiment of evil, you can't really expect to slander that person, and get away with it where God is concerned. And the funny part is, chances are, you're the one who's trying to destroy their life, not them! That someone doesn't even know who you are, and hasn't done anything against you (there could be exceptions, but David, is the ideal answer) and if he's hurt by what you've done, and asks the Lord to avenge him, where will you be? Assuming he sins (everybody sins, and you're no exception, as much as you'd love to think that way), couldn't he have gone to God and asked for forgiveness, and chances are, he's a lot closer to God than you are?
Look carefully at things like these, and you notice the ugly green blobs of jealously and envy. And I'm sorry to note that it's got more berth in the lives of 'good christian people' than most others. Look around you. Look at the world. The autobahns of the worst gossip and slander aren't had to miss.
Your life is a lot of things, agreed, but it's more about your relationship with your Maker. And contrary to popular ideas and beliefs, it is governed only by how much you're willing to put into that relationship. Someone said "A relationship involves spending time and energy you normally would spend otherwise", and it's true in the case of your relationship with God as well. Look at your own life! Do what is expected of you. Look into your life before you think about looking into your neighbours'. 1"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Matt 7:1,2
posted by Finney @ 11:57 AM
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