“Now when it was evening, a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph came, who also was a disciple of Jesus himself.” (Matthew 27:57)
In our scripture reference it is simply noted, without judgment or malice, that Joseph of Arimathea was a rich man. We can safely assume that neither poverty nor wealth has any particular spiritual significance. You can be poor or you can be rich. In the Word of God you will find every principle for success and prosperity. Joshua 1:8, 2 Corinthians 9:1-15, Deuteronomy 28:1-14 and 3rd John:2 would be a wonderful starter course for changing your life or you might choose to stay right where you are at and be satisfied.
Do you remember the song that was sung in Sunday School, it went something like this - “Zacchaeus was a wee little man, a wee little man was he.” The songwriter didn’t put in the part about being rich. You see, Jesus never condemned the rich. His only rebuke was for the way that they handled money. In fact, Jesus said to Zacchaeus, the wee little rich guy, “Today salvation has come to your house.”
Now, I know some of us would say, “I don’t aspire to be rich.” Then, I would say, at least aspire to what the Word says and let God work His abundance in your life and family. Jesus said, “For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance, but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.” (Matthew 13:12) Abundance means excess, surplus, and full. If you will believe it, God wants you to be filled full so that there is a surplus and an excess of all you need, according to His riches in glory. Note Paul’s words in ll Corinthians nine, verse six, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. In the next verses, the Word of God says He loves a cheerful giver and He is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you would be sufficient in all things and abound in every good work.
I have noticed that it takes very little activity whether spiritual or in the physical realm to be poor. It does take Faith in human energy to live in lack and pay the bills. It seems to me that faith in the Word of God is always bringing us up into His marvelous blessing and God’s desire is to prosper us so that we have enough and some left over. I like what John said, his prayer was that you may prosper in all things (to include your spiritual growth) and be in health just as your soul prospers. I believe you could say, according to 3rd John two, that you will never be blessed or prosper beyond your spiritual growth. So you see it is faith in God’s Word that causes us to grow in Christ, to succeed in life, to prosper and live an abundant life.
Pastor Danny
