Creating God in Our Own Image: Part 1

Prosperity

“God wants us to prosper financially, to have plenty of money, to fulfill the destiny He has laid out for us. “

-Joel Osteen, pastor of America’s largest and fastest-growing
church and author of a New York Times #1 bestseller.

As ridiculous as this “gospel” might sound, some people are buying it. Osteen’s Lakewood Church has over 52,000 attendees in any given week. Furthermore, his book, Your Best Life Now, sold several million copies and even has a supplementary board game. People enjoy hearing the “health and wealth” gospel because it “encourages them.” However, what the prosperity gospel really encourages is nothing more than sinful desires; as people are built up in ungodly pride, they begin to feel good about themselves. Like many other proponents of this false gospel, Osteen masks selfishness and greed by using words like “victory” and “champion.” But by preaching this message, he is only leading his hearers astray, into the ultimate defeat of eternal damnation.

I’m not picking on Osteen just for the sake of being mean; furthermore, I know he is by no means the only false teacher out there. However, when the pastor of America’s largest church teaches such things, Christians must take a stand for the true gospel of Christ.

In The Age of Dr. Phil

I do not mean to “attack” Dr. Phil, because he does not profess Christ. But when we seek out an overweight, divorced man to be our “relationship and life strategy expert,” we’re probably asking for trouble. America has fallen into an obsession with self-help and, essentially, self-centeredness. Furthermore, as this type of culture has bled into the Church, our theology has become increasingly self-centered. We have become me-oriented professors of Christ, as opposed to God-oriented Christians.

But by greedily focusing on ourselves, we sin against God. Sin, at its most basic level, is essentially self-worship, as we choose our own interests over God’s. Therefore, by rewriting our theology to better suit our own desires, we reject God. However, the greatest problem is that we usually don’t even realize we doing this.

In the next several posts, I plan to look at some ways we attempt to “create God in our own image,” actively rebelling against God in ways that may seem harmless, innocent, or insignificant. But I assure you that any feeble attempts to usurp God’s power are neither harmless, innocent, nor insignificant. They must not be overlooked.

Let’s Face It…

One of the things we desire most is prosperity. For most of us, it is impossible to separate our idea of “happiness” from living in a spacious house, driving a decent car, and bringing home a nice paycheck. The problem is, however, that our pesky Messiah Jesus didn’t seem to care too much for material wealth: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matthew 6:19-20 ESV).

So, what do we do? Well, we find away around what Scripture says, of course! We may Jesus’ words altogether, perhaps paying them lip service, but assuring ourselves that they couldn’t possibly be directly applied to us. Or, we may try to find some other Scriptures that seem to justify our greed and, no matter how badly out-of-context our interpretation may be, cling to those verses. If I had a dime for every time someone cited Jeremiah 29:11 as if it were God’s promise to bless them financially (paying no regard to the fact that God was talking about Israel’s restoration after the Babylonian Captivity), maybe I would start believing the prosperity gospel; I’d be a millionaire!

If we take an honest look at ourselves, our sinful craftiness should be obvious. We love to find ways to ignore or even “outdo” the teachings of Jesus Christ. We don’t like admitting that we’re greedy, selfish rebels, so we try to reconcile the Gospel to our lifestyle (and not vice-versa). Changing our image of God is often easier than changing our own sinful hearts. Thus, we obey Scripture only when it is convenient.

Don’t Blame The Benjamins

Many people carry around the misconception that “money is the root of all evil.” This is simply untrue. Paul writes in 1 Timothy 6:10 that “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils.” It is not money that leads to evil, but the love of money. Furthermore, the love of money is not the root of all evil, but of all kinds of evils.

We must be careful not to simply be anti-money; it is not money, nor any material wealth that causes evil. Money is a neutral thing that may be used either for or against God’s glory; it has just as much potential to be used for good as it does for evil. However, an obsessive love for money is idolatry; money becomes a man’s savior, and this is why Paul warns Timothy that “through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs” (1 Timothy 6:10 ESV).

Having money—even a lot of money—is not sinful. Many of God’s servants—Abraham, Job, Solomon, and so on—were quite wealthy. It has been the habit of some to flee money and material possessions, as if they could be demonized by such things. Some of us even feel a sense of spiritual superiority because we’re poor. But those who have money and those who serve money are not necessarily the same; there are plenty of poor people who are still in love with money.

Therefore, it is our own evil, sinful hearts that move us to worship money; we have taken a potentially good thing and turned it into our functional savior. What’s scary, however, is that we are commonly oblivious to this fact. The love of money is usually more subtle than pronounced. We can’t expect to look in the mirror and find dollar-bills in our eyes. We must truly search the Scriptures and examine our hearts. By doing so, we should not be surprised to find that we seek to obey two masters.

The Bottom Line

The idea that God is obligated to bless us financially is ridiculous; the health and wealth gospel is preceded by a disturbingly shallow view of Calvary. An innocent man was not nailed to a cross so that I might drive a Hummer. Instead, as Scripture says, “he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5 KJV).

As televangelists exhort their viewers to donate money (with the promise that their contribution will be returned to them tenfold), the location of their treasure (and thus, their heart) is exposed. Now, I don’t have a problem with churches asking members to give offering. But when a person living in a multi-million dollar house is pleading with the average Joe to give generously to their personal ministry, as if they can’t afford it on their own, something is wrong.

When we treat God like a vending machine, we expect Him to deliver; if He does not, we set our wrath upon Him and find a “better” god to carry out our will. A “new and improved” god is being preached in many churches across America, proclaimed in a gospel centered on individual human beings. Yet this is no gospel at all! Do you see the problem here? God is not your personal servant! Or, to quote my mother, “the world doesn’t revolve around you!”

Far too frequently do I find that I serve money in my own heart. I am a poor steward, a greedy fool, a selfish insurrectionist fighting against God’s Kingdom. I am disobedient to the Word, as I seek my own interests over God’s. Far too frequently do I want to believe that God wants me to be financially affluent, healthy, and good-looking. I so often seek my own glory, at all costs.

Sometimes, when I’m caught up with the business of life, it’s easy to lose track of what God I’m serving. Yet despite the pressure of the world, despite the false teachers telling me only what my evil heart wants to hear, and despite the blackness and hardness of my heart, I must strive to glorify God with money.

Forgive me, Lord, for bowing to a false god, for serving Mammon, and for despising your Name. Change my heart, Spirit, that I may have but one Master—the Most High God, Creator of Heaven and Earth, Giver of all good things. Amen.

“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”

-Jesus Christ, Pastor of God’s Church and Author of Life