Mike Cope's Blog: Does God Want You To Be Rich?

I have to admit; this is a spiritual quandry that has been on my mind for a long time. As my global view has widened, and I have become aware of the great poverty that exists, God has been convicting my heart in this matter. If you have ever read the parable of the camel passing through the eye of the needle, and heard a cofc preacher explain it off as a geographic example, you know how problematic the idea of Christianity and wealth is. I totally reject the geographic explanation, that the needle was a low entrance into a city, and the camel had to crawl to get through it. I believe getting to heaven when you are rich (like me; you have a home, two cars and enough to eat and a tv or extra money to take classes or trips, you are rich), is difficult, and that materialism is much more dangerous to Christians than ANY other sin. Not because it is worse, but because it is much more prevalent to be greedy and selfish (myself as the perfect example of greed and selfishness) than other sins. I am not saying that I hate America, or that capitalism is bad, but I am saying that the idea that as God loves you he will bless you with material wealth is wrong, wrong wrong! He can bless you with wealth. He can also bless you with wisdom, patience, love, health or in any number of ways that we seldom think of. But, wealth can also be a huge stumbling block, too. I used to cringe when I read the prayer of jabez. It just seemd obscene to me to ask for much more money (disclaimer, Bruce Wilkerson does state that God can bless you spiritually, too) when we have so much more than almost all the world. Every night, I should be on my knees thanking God for his many, many blessings instead of asking for a louis vuitton wallet (guilty as charged) or a winning lottery ticket (yes, my greed knows no end!). Here is a link to Mike Cope's blog today. It must be contraversial; it already has 83 comments. Warning: if you are a fan of Joel Osteen, you may not like what he has to say. (I am ignorant about the man. If he would only appear on Thomas the Train, perhaps I would know more about him.)
http://www.preachermike.com/
And, Larry James' blog is also interesting, although his blog is thematically dedicated to making people aware of the poverty that exists in our communities.http://larryjamesurbandaily.blogspot.com/