A sign that one is deviating from the Way of Christ is when one puts one’s heart & soul into things that have no heart & feeling for others. Compassion for others and the capacity to love others is a human quality that permits us to draw closer to God; when we give that up, we close that channel to Jesus Christ and erect a barrier that needs to be taken down through an inner awakening. Things, money and material stuff are good if used properly and in line with the will of God. But if the creation of our hands is worshipped for themselves out of context with the end purpose of divine good, then distortion of God’s Kingdom sets in. You see material and spiritual prosperity is good. Moving forward in owning stuff is good if pursued in synchronicity with the will of God; if pursued for its own sake, a misguided life ensues and unhappiness sets in. In Psalm 115, this teaching is described as people creating idols that do not see, speak, hear or feel and that their creators become just like the idols they fashion with their hands (Psalm 115: 3-8). The sad thing about idolatry is that one can spiritually evolve into the precise qualities that idols personify, making those people spiritually infantile and incapable of loving fully and responding with heart and compassion to the needs of others. For those who follow Jesus Christ, they have heart and soul and they show that by praising God. The result for true followers of Jesus Christ is property in all things for His believers. The bottom line is that belief in Christ is a function of trust. Ultimately, if we put our trust in God, all good things will follow, a sense of moving forward and growing in responsibility and ownership of inner and outer material things, giving glory to God: “May the Lord cause you to flourish, both you and your children. May you be blessed by the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth” (Psalm 115: 14-15). To flourish, we must trust in God and put God before material things. If we can live this way, our children will see this and they will prosper too. If we hold onto material things and place them before God, we become impoverished; if we let go and place God #1, the material stuff will flow into our hands for us to steward properly considering divine counsel and direction.
Trust in Jesus Christ and Prosper
