Prosperity
Jeremiah 29:11
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
I'm hearing a lot these days about prosperity. I've heard this passage from Jeremiah offered as a indication that following God will lead to prosperity. I agree, but with a deep concern for how we define prosperity.
One definition of prosperity is worldly wealth. One could deduce from that definition that if one follows God, then he will become wealthy by the worlds standards.
I happen to adhere to a different definition. I believe God's definition of prosperity is becoming the person that God designed me to be. In God's economy wealth is measured by spiritual maturity, not by the car one drives. I believe God's plans are to help me to be spiritually mature.
James 1:4
Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Prosper in the Lord!
Lon
If you have time and interest, check out this video by John Piper about the "Prosperity Gospel":
http://stevenjcamp.blogspot.com/2007/07/john-piper-on-prosperity-gospel-one-of.html
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Lon, we just studied Jeremiah 29:1-14 in my Sunday School class yesterday. He was writing to the Exiles in Babylon and he asked them not to expect to return soon to Judah, but to build houses where they were, plant gardens, have children, and to pray for even the welfare of the enemy Babylonians.
In our lesson the word "welfare" was instead of the word "prosperity" and it is written three times in verse 11. One of the teacher's supplements, "The New International Lesson Annual" explains that "welfare" was another word for "shalom" which means more than "peace" but is also state of well-being, not just the absence of war. This was God's plan for the Jews while they waited the 70 years to return to their homeland. So instead of the word "prosperity" which we think of as riches, Jeremiah meant "welfare" "well-being" "Shalom."
Carol Herdien
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