Sunday – Poetry

Reading – Ecclesiastes 5-6

Highlight Verse:

“And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it. To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life—this is indeed a gift from God.”
‭‭Ecclesiastes‬ ‭5‬:‭19‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Ahh, a good prosperity theology verse.

If you know me, you know that I cannot stand prosperity theology.

If you are not familiar with it, prosperity theology teaches that if you are a faithful believer, giving faithfully, and claiming God’s promises in faith, you will be blessed with wealth, health, and basically anything you want.

That is not what the Gospel is about.

Yes, God blesses faithful giving and hard work.

One of the things this verse tells me is that all blessings ultimately come from God.

We should welcome those blessings and enjoy them.

But those blessings should not be the motivation for our faithfulness.

Nor is our faithfulness always rewarded with physical blessings.

I have enjoyed my career despite looking forward to retirement. It has brought me many friendships and great satisfaction in knowing my work has made a difference in this world.

I also enjoy the work of writing, and I hope it may bring some financial blessings in retirement.

If I didn’t enjoy writing, you wouldn’t be reading this.

Right now, I am enjoying vacation and the chance to explore some of God’s beautiful creation with my family (don’t worry, we have someone taking care of the house and the dogs).

I consider this time to be a great blessing from God.

How has God blessed you through your work or career?
What future blessings do you look forward to?