Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.
--Philippians 4:11-12
God is committed to your success as a Christian. And one of the ways He prepares you for godly success is…believe it or not…through tests of prosperity.
Now, usually you hear preachers talk a lot about tests of adversity…which we’ve spent a lot of time over the past several days. But I’d argue that perhaps the most difficult test in life is not the test of adversity but rather the test of prosperity.
Most of us are able to handle adversity in Christ. But many of us have more difficulty in handling our prosperity when we have been so blessed in Christ.
Paul was able to handle both adversity and prosperity…as we note in today’s passage. But what about you? How do you respond when God blesses you? Do you find yourself depending less of God when times are good? Do you ever find yourself spending less time in God’s Word and in prayer when your needs aren’t so pressing?
As you grow in your relationship with Christ, it’s my hope that you’ll fall so much in love with Jesus that your desire to spend time with Him won’t hinge on how stressed out you are. That you will learn as Paul did, to be content in both adversity and prosperity.
Godly success comes through the tests of prosperity.
by Dr. Paul Chappell
“And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.”
Luke 15:20
When people in Jesus’ day heard Him tell the story of the Prodigal Son, they heard it through the lens of their culture. To the Jewish listeners, this story contains something unusual that we often don’t think of. For a man of wealth and standing in that time to run was extremely rare. He would have servants to take care of his tasks and would dispatch one of them to care for urgent matters. Yet the father saw his son coming from a great distance and ran to meet to him. This is a wonderful picture of the way God treats us.
We do not have to persuade God to save us—He delights in rescuing sinners from Hell and placing them into His family. He is even patient and allows us opportunities to respond to the gospel rather than quickly giving us the punishment that we deserve. “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
The full measure of the love of God for us can only be understood through the lens of the cross. God was willing to cause His perfect and innocent Son to suffer and die for the sins of man so that we could be redeemed, and He delighted when our redemption was accomplished. “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand” (Isaiah 53:10).
Today’s Growth Principle:
If we remember how much God loves us, it motivates us to do all that we can to please and honor Him.
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