Prosperity

When you hear the word prosperity, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? Money, houses, cars? Too often prosperity is defined by the things we have. In 3 John, John is writing to Gaius. In verse 2 it is evident that prosperity is not being used in relation to “things”. It says “Beloved, I pray that in all things thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” During the times of the New Testament, Christians were being persecuted. So, we know that it was not necessarily a time that Christians were prospering financially. So how could one be prosperous in a not-so-prosperous environment?

The only other way is to be spiritually prosperous. In John’s letter to Gaius, he prayed that the other areas of Gaius’ life were as prosperous as his soul, or his spiritual life.  3 John 3 says that Gaius walked in truth. So, we know that one way to live spiritually prosperous is to walk in truth. 3 John 6 says “who bare witness to thy love before the church: whom thou wilt do well to set forward on their journey worthily of God” Therefore, love is another way of living a spiritually prosperous life. Finally, 1 Timothy 6:6 tells us “Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment,” By this, we know that being content with what we have is another way to be prosperous spiritually. This doesn’t mean that if we are not in a physically prosperous place we shouldn’t strive to be better. It means that we shouldn’t be greedy and covetous. It also means that we shouldn’t wish for better days ahead or be overly nostalgic wishing for the good ol’ days. We should be happy in whatever position we are in knowing that God has everything under control (see Philippians 4:12).

God doesn’t hold our physical life valueless. Jesus told us in Matthew 6:25-33 not to be worried about those things. We should seek God’s kingdom first and all of that stuff would be taken care of. In fact, the next couple of scriptures down(Matthew 6:19-21), Jesus tells us to store up our treasures in Heaven. He is instructing us to focus on being spiritually prosperous.  1 Corinthians 4:18 says “as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” Because the spiritual realm is eternal, Heaven is where the real treasure is.

I read once that the word prosper literally means “to help on the road” or “to reach successfully”.  God wants to help us on the road so that we can successfully reach our destiny. We can become spiritually prosperous by living inside out.