God Does Not Want You to Be Rich

The Kingdom of God is not the "Magic Kingdom." It's not a magical portal of happiness which exists in order to give us pleasure and strike within us a sense of safety and privilege. The Kingdom of God strikes not privilege nor the type of pleasure we so often seek but hope within poverty and peace in the midst of misery. We have been living in the kingdom of privilege and the "pursuit of happiness" and it has lead to the suffering of many for the comfort of few... it has led to disconnect and subjugation... it has strangled the poor and has rotted away at the rich. We need a different kind of kingdom, a kingdom which can free us from the kingdoms of privilege and safety which has taken our souls from us, a kingdom of humility, love, grace, peace, and solidarity. We need a kingdom which holds life higher than comfort, truth higher than safety, and love of neighbor higher than the pursuit of happiness and property. We need a Kingdom which does not belong to kings and wealthy businessmen but to Christ the crucified Son and his crucified people. Would this sort of kingdom make us rich or happy or handsome? Surely not. But it would indeed bring us together under the banner of love and it would struggle against and bring an end to the kingdom of the curse.

I will say it now... God does not want you to be rich! You may have heard it said that God wants you to be rich, but God does not want you to be rich. He is just not interested in that. He is not interested in your comfort and he is not interested in the possessions you own. God is interested in your heart. God is interested in you being and becoming the you he created you to be. God is interested in your commitment to doing what is right even if it means entering into suffering and death, even death on a cross.

May we be caught up in the revolution that is the kingdom of God. May we be found on the side of those who are being crushed under the weight of the kingdom of wealth and prosperity. May we be in solidarity with those on the underside of the kingdom of success and happiness. May we be found with Christ on the cross and risen in his glory into eternal life, the kind of life which does not give in to death. As the Father sent Christ into the world and into the struggle for the Kingdom of God, so may we be sent by him who bears the scars of crucifixion.

Comments

Amanda Ellis said…
Wow wes that is very beautiful and brings hope to me as I read it. Keep imagining wes.