Seeking After Riches

PLIABLE: Tell me, what things are there?

CHRISTIAN: There is an endless kingdom to be inhabited, and

everlasting life to be given to us so that we may inhabit that

kingdom forever.

PLIABLE: Again, well said; but tell me still more.

CHRISTIAN: There are crowns of glory to be given to us, and

garments that will make us shine like the sun in the firmament of

Heaven.

Pliable's questions prove his underlining motive, what he can get. What Christian says is true. There is waiting for the believer an eternal kingdom. The believer will also receive crowns of glory and garments of white.

"And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.  ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Revelation 21:3-4


"And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away." I Peter 5:4


Throughout the Churches history there have been those who have used their power to get what they wanted. Popes and Bishops sold indulgences. A scale of prices was so fixed as to draw heavily from the rich and yet not overlook and miss the pennies of the poor. An example of this was that maybe one would be allowed a marriage with a first cousin at a cost of $5,000, while the sin of unfaithfulness may cost only $20.
  
Today, while the selling of indulgences is not as fashionable you can find numerous teachers that will tell you, as a Christian, it is your right to be rich. Prosperity theology, sometimes referred to as the prosperity gospel or the "health and wealth" gospel is the teaching which claims the Bible illustrates that financial blessing is the will of God for Christians. This false doctrine teaches that faith, positive speech, and donations to Christian ministries will always increase one's material wealth.


This is not old either. During the Renaissance some patrons had artists clothed Jesus and His mother in fine robes of silk and other wealth in their paintings. This was done to excuse their own excessive wealth. If Mary was clothed in fine silk, so could they.


What all of this has in common is a self-center based religion instead of  Christ-centered. What I can get from God. What He can do for me. How I can be better off. This is not the heart of the Bible. We need to die to our self.


"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:20