Green-eyed jealousy dressed in regal robes of self-righteousness.
SOME PEOPLE can’t stand to see someone actually LIVING out the promises of the Word.
John 10:10b I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
Psa 68:19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.
Pro 10:22 The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.
Whenever I “hear” someone like this bad-mouthing a Christian for being prosperous and happy, I always conclude that the accusing person is NOT a tither, or if they ever did tithe, they did it grudgingly and not out of love and gratitude to God.
2nd Corinthians 9:6 But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.
2nd Corinthians 9:7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.
But the bottom line is: If you can’t stand to watch or listen to a happy prosperous Christian, DON’T WATCH IT!
This person would REALLY have had problems with Abraham, and Lot, and Isaac and Job, and R.G. LeTourneau and Stanley Tam, et al. The patriarchs, in today’s dollars, would make Joel look like a pauper.....except for his Joy in the Lord.
They're not the standard though. The standard is Christ, who humbled himself and became as a servant. He had no outward riches in his life on Earth. We are not to seek after riches, but rather to seek to emulate Christ, if God desires to grant us prosperity fine, but it should not be the overriding goal of our lives. If we "worship" God because we think he will then be obligated to give us something in return, we are fooling ourselves.