9For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. (2 Corinthians 8:1-15)
This verse couldn’t be any clearer. It’s a part of Christ’s atonement for us to be financially rich. Yet many Christians persist in their belief that God delights in His children being stuck in poverty. The way many people have gotten around the obvious truth of this verse is to say that Jesus came to make us rich spiritually, not materially. But the whole context of this verse deals with money. Jesus died to produce financial prosperity for us. He would no more make us poor than He would make us sin. He died to free us from both sin and poverty. We need to get the same attitude toward poverty that we have toward sin.
There is no doubt that many people have learned lessons as the result of their sins. People have been broken and have come to the end of themselves because of their own disobedience. But does that mean the Lord led them into sin? Did God want them to commit adultery so they could learn the value of the mate He had given them? Certainly not! Likewise, people can learn things through poverty. They can learn the value of things that money can’t buy. But poverty itself is a killer. We should seek to overcome poverty the same way we seek to overcome sin.
God put poverty in the same category as sin and redeemed you from it. Now you should agree with Him. If you haven’t already, today begin to take advantage of the prosperity He has provided through the atonement of Christ. Release your faith in His declaration that Jesus became poor so that you could be rich in all respects.
