What’s Work Got To Do With It?
Prosperity gospel…what’s work got to do with it? That is a question that swirled through my mind when I interpreted the prosperity gospel wrongly.
I grew up knowing that we are required to work hard. This was the gateway to success…be it in school, employment or entrepreneurship. Some would say, work smart not hard…but at the core of it all is work.
Nothing is really simple. Sometimes you can work hard and not see the fruit you would desire. And this is where the prosperity gospel came in.
I heard people make declarations about wealth…where they were going to live, what cars they were going to drive etc. And so I did this.
I saw people run to give offering after offering…because they believed that God would multiply it thirtyfold, sixtyfold or hundredfold. I too did this, while taking Scripture out of context.
But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.
Matthew 13:23
The Scripture is actually referencing the productivity of the Word in our lives. Read Matthew 13:1-23 for the full context.
I heard people talk about revelations they got concerning a door that God would open that would bring in millions for them with little effort required on their part. I trusted God for easy open doors as well.
And while I believe there is a place for speaking forth what you want to see, giving and open doors…I had taken these to the extreme and I started questioning the role of work in modern day christianity. It seemed like work was something to be abhorred. But is it..?
The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
Genesis 2:15
God did this before the fall. Meaning work was never a result of man’s fall. It was part of our construction as man…we are created to work. In fact, so great was this work that Adam required help.
So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found […] Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and brought her to man.
Genesis 2:20-22
All this happened before the fall. The curse that man received from the fall was painful toil…not work.
To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’
“Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.
It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground […]”
Genesis 3:17-19
But this curse is no longer active in the life of a Christian.
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
Galatians 3:13
What is the Link Between Work and Prosperity?
The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands […]
Deuteronomy 28:12
The financial blessings of the LORD are primarily received through our work. Yes, there may be instances where you may get a financial surprise, but that is not the norm. He blesses the work of our hands.
He who works his land will have abundant food, but he who chases fantasies lacks judgement.
Proverbs 12:11
The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.
Proverbs 13:4
All hard work brings a profit,
but mere talk leads only to poverty.
Proverbs 14:23
Your Turn
Have you, like me, bought into the “spirituality of laziness”. Have you shunned work or looked to God to miraculously prosper you outside work?
Yes, He is not limited in how He can bless you. But, He is the One who put in place the principle of work and the principle of financial prosperity through work.
What does your work ethic reveal about your obedience to His principles?
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.
Ecclesiastes 9:10