How rich are you toward God? How rich am I toward God? These are some fundamental questions that we would have provided answers to by the time the Holy Spirit would be bringing us to a full stop on this matter. A man may have been adjudged to be the richest man in the world or the richest woman in the world. But can such people be adjudged to be rich toward God? What are the things that makes a man or a woman to be rich toward God?

 

And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”

Luke 12:15

 

Each time Jesus speaks and say phrases like "verily verily" or "take heed", what it connotes is that we should watch out for what He was about to talk about. Those statements usually points to the gravity or the seriousness of the matter at hand, and a wise person would carefully examine the words of Jesus in those instance and pay rapt attention. If you read the story from verse 13 of the same chapter, someone had ask Jesus from the crowd to please speak to his brother so that he could share the inheritance with him. But Jesus' response to him took the conversation to a whole new level, and this is where the crux of today's message is derived from.

 

Listen to Podcast: THE PARABLE OF THE RICH FOOL

 

So, Jesus said to the crowd that was there: for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”  If we begin to dig deeper, what Jesus said was completely different from what the man wanted to hear. Jesus had looked at this man's heart with the eyes of the spirit, and had seen a man who love the things of the world more than the message of the kingdom. If you read the chapter from the beginning, you can really see the themes of Jesus' message to the crowd that day and how it addresses very important and germane issues. He had talked about Hypocrisy from the very beginning of the chapter, then He moved on to teaching the Fear of God and the importance of Confessing Christ before Men. But hear is a man who was not interested in those important conversations, but suddenly interrupted the Master over some mundane affairs between himself and his brother over inheritance.

 

So, in plain language and without mincing words, Jesus addressed the man's matter by taking him back to the kingdom. In other words, Jesus was saying to the man that the sum total of a man's life is not in the abundance of the things that he or she possesses: many houses, many cars, billions of naira in several accounts, private jets, private yacht, private helicopters, chains of businesses, et cetera. Jesus was saying to the man, that a person may own all these things and yet before God, his life is wretched, miserable and lacks direction.

 

¹⁶ Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. ¹⁷ And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ ¹⁸ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. ¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” ’ ²⁰ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ ²¹ “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

Luke 12:16-21

 

One of the biggest mistakes many people who are rich and wealthy today make is in the fact that they have money, but they clearly don't know why God has blessed them or give them so much. Many of them boast in their wealth and riches like they made it happen all by themselves. And so, you would here words or phrases like "I am a self-made millionaire or billionaire." No wonder Jesus said in Luke 18:25 that "It is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." Many today boast in their riches and wealth and leave God out of the equation.

 

But the absolute truth is that, there is no one who is self made anywhere. Whatever riches you have, it is because God gave you the ability to possess it. See what Deuteronomy 8:18 says. "And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day." As a matter of fact, each time we exclude God from the scheme of things, that action tend to categorize you as being anti God or Antichrist. The reason is because whatever we do, it is either Christ or Satan that is being manifested in our lives, and the one that you project is the one that would take the glory.

 

The word "power" there means ability. That means if God takes away that ability from you, you would end up becoming nothing. When everything about you is "I will this" and "I will that", removing God from the equation or the scheme of things in your life, just as we saw in the parable that was told above by Jesus, then you are hedging towards self destruction already. It was this same "Me", "myself" and "I" mentality that got the Satan kicked out of heaven in the first place.

 

The important thing we can take away from that parable as told by Jesus is that God isn't that interested in what we accumulate as wealth. Although He is the one who gives us the power to get wealth, He is not moved by our riches and wealth. In fact, the Scripture says "what does it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and then lose his soul." That means it won't profit the man that he gains the whole world and lose his soul and it won't profit God either. That means to be rich toward God is much more important than whatever it is that you are accumulating and running after.

 

This is why it is important as a believer that even though God has blessed you so much, don't put your trust in those wealth and riches and then forget God. See what apostle Paul said to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:17-19. The Bible says:

 

"Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. ¹⁸ Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, ¹⁹ storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life."

 

So, when God brings you into some dimensions of wealth, it is not so that you can accumulate houses and cars and probably buy some more private jets. The above passage tells us that those in that category are suppose to be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share. That means, there is a reason why God blesses you. God is not known to waste resources, He strategically places wealth in the hands of people so that such wealth can go round. I believe apostle Paul also said something about this assertion to the Corinthian folks. See what he wrote to them:

 

"And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. ⁹ As it is written:

“He has dispersed abroad,
He has given to the poor;
His righteousness endures forever."

2 Corinthians 9:8-9

 

Notice in the Scripture that "It is God who is able to make all grace abound toward you." That shows you something, that it is not by your wisdom or your workings. It is not because you are the most brilliant or the most smartest among the lots. It is just God's grace and faithfulness toward you that is in operation. That tells you that there is no room for "I", "Me" doing this and that in the equation, it is just God working through you to reach out unto others. So, that parable tells us that a man can be rich, and yet still be a fool, because such a rich man is not rich toward God. Jesus was not mincing words when He referred to the man as being a fool, that shows how grievous the matter is in the earth of the Master.

 

 

What Then Does It Mean To Be Rich Toward God?

To be rich toward God simply means to live a life that is full of God's glory, to serve Him with all one's heart and soul and mind, in sincerity and in truth, and to be full of good works. This definition is properly captured in the book of Deuteronomy 10:12-13. The Bible says:

 

"And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹³ and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good?"

 

 

Things That Makes A Man To Be Rich Toward God

 

SERVICE

There are two major phrases here that shows how one can be rich toward God. It says "to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,." From here, we can see that being rich toward God is largely a matter of the heart and the soul. They are more of the things that happen within you than what happens externally. Although, service is more external, but it must be done genuinely from within that is; the things you do for God must borne out of your pure love for Him. In other words, what it is saying is that you can be rich in good works. See what verse 18 of what 1 Timothy 6 says: "Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share,"

 

GIVING

"Now at Caesarea [Maritima] there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Regiment, ² a devout man and one who, along with all his household, feared God. He made many charitable donations to the Jewish people, and prayed to God always. ³ About the ninth hour (3:00 p.m.) of the day he clearly saw in a vision an angel of God who had come to him and said, “Cornelius!” ⁴ Cornelius was frightened and stared intently at him and said, “What is it, lord (sir)?” And the angel said to him, “Your prayers and gifts of charity have ascended as a memorial offering before God [an offering made in remembrance of His past blessings]

Acts 10:1-4

 

A man can be rich toward God through giving. The case study of Cornelius above, and many other case studies in the Bible are a good example of this. It is a known Biblical fact that God accepts certain offerings from certain people based on the fact that they love God, and God also can testify of them that those ones loved Him. In 2 Chronicles 1:1 & 6, the Bible records of Solomon giving a thousand offerings to God.

 

"Now Solomon the son of David was strengthened in his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him and exalted him exceedingly. And Solomon went up there to the bronze altar before the Lord, which was at the tabernacle of meeting, and offered a thousand burnt offerings on it. ⁷ On that night God appeared to Solomon, and said to him, “Ask! What shall I give you?"

 

Now, many supposed rich people in the world today do charitable giving to the poor. Many of them run charitable organizations through which they reach out to the cause of the poor across the globe. Many of them don't profess Christ or the Lordship of Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, some of them are even atheist, they don't believe in the existence of God. But they are giving to the poor and sometimes engage in actions that fights the cause of the poor. In that instance, can they be said to be rich toward God? If your answer is a no, and that they are not rich toward God, what about this Scripture that says: "He who is gracious and lends a hand to the poor lends to the Lord, And the Lord will repay him for his good deed." (Proverbs 19:17, AMP). Think about this for a bit and drop your comment!

 

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Thanks for the gift of your time, I am Obayomi Abiola Benjamin!

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