Warning! Religious Christian rant! If you don't want to hear my thoughts on prosperity teaching leave now. Okay, I've warned you, now you have to deal with my musing/ranting about this style of preaching. And yeah, it's okay if you flame me. This is more of a venue for my thoughts, a place to vent. And hey, if you like it, if it touches you, great. But I would ask that you form your own ideas. Don't take anything at face value.
Okay. First off, I am not a theologian. I cannot say anything about theology or doctrine and believe that everything I say is true. What I can do, however, is take what I've heard from my father and my mother, whom I respect in all things, and my own reasoning and attempt to understand what the bible says. Now, I am not the greatest Christian ever. Heck, who comes close these days? Anyway, I don't really read my bible as often as I should, but I do try... on occasion. Okay, yes, I'm really horrible when it comes to that part of my walk but... Okay, I really need to pray for God to give me a thirst for his word. But I've digressed a bit. Allow me to get back on topic here.
It seems like so many people these days simply look at the Internet and accept what it says as truth. They look at what others have and are lustful for it. This is not everyone, but there are more than enough of these kinds of people to make you wonder what has happened to our world? It is not just America, of this I am sure. Why? People are people no matter where they are from. I'm not trying to preach. In fact, I'm beginning to wonder what qualifies as a sermon, what qualifies as preaching, and what is it I should believe? Well, I've heard a lot about prosperity teaching, and some of it sounds like it has a basis in truth, but it is taken out of context and twisted to fit lazy lifestyles. Can God bless you above and beyond what you could ever ask or comprehend? Of course, He's God! But will He? Will He just hand you everything you could ever want on a sliver platter as if he were your butler delivering your drinks? Hum... most likely not. Will He reward the servant who diligently does His will without complaint and goes the extra mile just to please Him, like a boss rewards the employee who does his job quickly and well? Most likely. I cannot say what He will do because I don't know Him as well as I should, but when you think of it, are we not his employees? Is He not our boss? The pastor is like the store manager, the staff and church volunteers are like the shift managers, the missionaries are like the sales associates out on the floor, and the rest of the congregation are shoppers waiting to become those out on the floor. It's not the perfect analogy, but it serves it's purpose. What am I getting at with all this? Yes, God wants to bless you, but who rewards a sloth? Does a worker who comes to work late, loafs around and does hardly anything, then leaves early get a promotion, or does it go to the one who comes in at five every morning, works hard at his job, and leaves at eight?
So, prosperity teaching, from what I've gathered, is claiming, from God, your 'promise' and receiving your blessing without having to work very hard to get it. This may not be what you see. This may not be what you get. You may have read this whole post and thought I'm nothing but an idiot who shouldn't have come back to her blog. Newsflash. I don't really care what you think. It's my blog, so I'm gonna use it as I see fit. And for those of you who have a pastor who teaches prosperity, I'm not necessarily ragging on your pastor. However, I would like to leave you with a few questions.
What are you doing to be rewarded for?
What are you doing to receive the blessing God has for you?
What is it God wants from you?
If you saw a need, would you get up and do something about it, or would you sit and think about it, pray about it, and then forget about it?
Are you really striving to be all you can for Him?
Think about it, study the word, and then... well, I'm not too sure. Seek God's will in your life and then strive to fulfill His call on you? Yeah, that sounds about right. Signing off once again,
Lil Bit
