Being poor on the other hand repels people because you are not able to add value to others when you are poor. A poor person takes and has nothing to give. God loves the poor and has compassion on the poor but doesn’t get any...
“Wealth makes many friends,
But the poor is separated from his friend,” (Proverbs 19:4).
I have great news for you. Money is a good thing. God loves it when His children prosper financially. Jesus taught more on money than He did anything else. He talked more about money than He did faith and prayer combined. If Jesus is our example to follow in how we are to conduct our lives, then why do we shy away from talking about money when He talked on it a lot?
When I think about it, money had a bad connotation connected with it in the church environment I grew up in. Being poor was associated with being humble and being rich was associated with being prideful and having a love for money over loving God. People would take this verse and run with it,
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows,” (1 Timothy 6:10).
Notice, this verse says “the love of money” is the root of all kinds of evil. It doesn’t say money is the root of evil. This is talking about those who trust in money over trusting in God. This is talking about those who make all of their decisions in life based on money rather than on God’s Word. Money itself is a good thing. It is a gift from God that allows us to be a blessing to our families and others we love. Money allows our lives to be fruitful and glorious. God gets glory from His children prospering financially.
King Solomon, the wisest and richest man who has ever lived, wrote the book of Proverbs as he was inspired by God. First of all, God made Solomon wise and rich. By the way, you can’t separate the two. Wisdom produces wealth. Where you hear wisdom, you will see wealth and where you see wealth you will hear wisdom.
Solomon asked God for wisdom and God gave him wisdom and wealth (2 Chronicles 1:11-12).
God did that. I have read through the book of Proverbs many times now. I try to read one chapter a day in Proverbs. I am discovering that Proverbs is a book about wisdom and wealth.
God, through Solomon, writes that wealth makes many friends. Have you ever noticed this? In Proverbs chapter 19 and verse 6 He says, “every man is a friend to one who gives gifts.” Love is expressed through giving and everyone wants to be loved. You can’t give what you don’t have. When you are able to give someone what they like or desire they will love you for it. God gets glory from a generous life. God gets glory from being able to bless others through His children. God desires to prosper us because He is our father and loves us.
Being poor on the other hand repels people because you are not able to add value to others when you are poor. A poor person takes and has nothing to give. God loves the poor and has compassion on the poor but doesn’t get any glory from the poor. The poor is not an accurate representation of God’s character or nature. God is a King. Actually, the King of all kings.
God has made all of us little kings and desires for all of humanity to prosper in all things including money (3 John 1:2). No matter what our current financial or social status is, we must start seeing ourselves as God sees us. We must start believing that He loves us and is fulfilled by blessing us with good gifts. He gets glory from us prospering because we are His children!
Brandon Burnam.