Dangerous Blessings
A theology of God's abundance and our hunger for more.
Ed Gungor
July 1, 2006
The Bible tells us that money is both wonderful and deadly. It is one way God blesses people, and, perhaps more surprising, it can actually enhance our relationship with God. However, equating prosperity with godliness is a scriptural no-no.
You don't have to go very deep into Scripture to discover that God loves to lavishly provide for his creation. The Garden of Eden was a place of abundance, and it was said, "the gold of that land is good" (Gen. 2:11). And consider the description given at the end of the Bible of our eternal home: "The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass" (Rev. 21:21).
God wants us to trust him in every part of our lives, not just the spiritual parts.
Catherine Marshall writes:
"If we are to believe Jesus, his Father and our Father is the God of all life and his caring and provision include a sheepherder's lost lamb, a falling sparrow, a sick child, the hunger pangs of a crowd of four thousand, the need for wine at a wedding feast, and the plight of professional fishermen who toiled all night and caught nothing. These vignettes, scattered through the Gospels like little patches of gold dust, say to us, 'No creaturely need is outside the scope or range of prayer.'"
The Bright Side of Money
Back in the day when I first came to Jesus, every serious believer I knew talked only about surrender, sacrifice, and giving up our lives for the cause of Christ—the deeper life. We used to sit around and muse about how cool it would be to actually die for our faith. We never thought much about praying for God to provide for us. We thought faith was about surrendering control to Jesus Christ—if he provides, great; if not, we die smiling. We were a die-to-self, suffering kind of crowd. ...
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