I remember the first time I heard the term 'prosperity Gospel.' Honestly, I had no idea what it really meant, but it sounded good. After all, 'prosperity' is a good word, and so is 'Gospel,' so surely combining the two would be a good thing, right?
Wrong.
Now, I know what prosperity Gospel means, and I know that it's founded on the idea that with more faith, positive speech and tithing, one's material wealth will increase. It' essentially the belief that God's will is to financially bless His people, and frankly, when I read the Bible, I don't see this belief holding much of any validity.
I just finished up reading the book of Job. For those of you who don't know, Job was a guy in the Old Testament of the Bible who was considered to be the most righteous man on the earth. God saw him as this, and God knew that whatever happened to him, he wouldn't curse God's name. Then, the devil challenged this belief God had and struck Job with all of these plagues and terrible things, all of which God gave the devil permission to do, as long as he didn't kill Job. Job receives all of these plagues, but he never once curses God, even after his wife tells him to. He and his friends spend about 20 chapters discussing the 'why' of what's happening, but not once does Job curse his God.
Throughout the dialogue of Job and his friend's discussion, you get a glimpse into what Job's life looked like and how he lived. He lived a life of blessing, but even more than that, he really did live a life of righteousness. He fed and clothed the poor with his own sheep and food, he was a father to the fatherless and cared for widows, and he even made a covenant with his eyes to never look lustfully at another woman besides his wife. He truly lived righteously, but even yet, that did not stop the hard things from happening to him in his life.
It's hard to argue that anyone has ever lived as righteously as Job did but lost as much as Job lost. He lost all his sons and daughters, all of his livestock, all his servants and was even inflicted with lots of physical pain and sickness. He was truly tested, and that didn't look anything like 'prosperity Gospel.' It looked like the opposite. No matter how much faith, positive speech and tithing he participated in, he still was pushed to the limits here on earth. Blessings weren't given to him; they were taken away; however, I don't think anyone has ever been more blessed by God than how Job was treated.
God saw Job so righteous that God tested him to the most extreme of human circumstances in his day and time. God knew Job's heart so well that He knew that Job would not break. God knew where Job's treasure really was. He knew it wasn't in his stuff, wasn't in his family and wasn't in his health, but that his treasure was truly with God in Heaven.
I can only pray that one day God sees me in the light that He saw Job- that He sees me as righteous enough to take everything I may hold dear to me away from me in order to prove that my heart really is with Him no matter what. That's my prayer.
-Cliff
Cliff's Note: Blessing doesn't always look like 'being blessed;' sometimes it looks like suffering.