Should Christians Expect to be Healthy and Wealthy?
WhatsApp, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook bombard us with advertisements, claiming to have the answers that will bring health, wealth, and wisdom. People want to live longer, know more, and have more money – but that’s old news. In a 1735 edition of Poor Richard’s Almanack, Benjamin Franklin wrote this witty advice: “Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise…” He borrowed the phrase from Englishman John Clarke, who stated it in the 1640s. The method of attaining health, wealth, and wisdom has changed a bit since then. It is doubtful many people are seeking the advice of a nearly three-hundred-year-old pamphlet. Today, people ascribe to the philosophy of artists Kevin Gates – “ I work six jobs, I don’t get tired” – or Ace Hood – “Hustle, hustle, hustle hard” – for accumulating wealth. Nearly everyone has a side hustle or two and are looking for another one. Sleep is an afterthought. As Bon Jovi sings: “I don’t need a bed, I’ll sleep when I’m dead.” Despite the disdain for rest, personal health is a huge industry. Numerous influencers are out there, advocating diets, fasts, cleanses, and “eat this but not that, or that but not this.” One claims the benefits of being vegan and another of banting. And the amount of information available is staggering, compared to just 25 years ago. We seek more and more knowledge, in an attempt to answer the deep questions. People like Terrance Howard are postulating farfetched theories – the more bizarre, the better.
Should Christians join in these pursuits? Is it reasonable to expect that repentance of sins and belief in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ gives Christians the inside track for health, wealth, and wisdom? Listen for a few minutes to Bill Johnson of Bethel Church, Benny Hinn, Creflo Dollar, or Kenneth Copeland. At the center of their message is this persistent idea: Christians should expect to experience freedom from sickness, disease, and poverty. They should prosper in all areas of their lives, including health and wealth. A lack of these signals a lack of faith. Is that true? Should Christians expect to be healthy and wealthy? What does the Bible tell us about money, health, prosperity, and provision? In the Bible, we find that God has much to say about these things and what we can expect as a Christian.
Wealth
The desire, chasing after, and accumulation of wealth consumes our world. Many think “If I just had a little bit more money, I would be happier and better off.” Yet Ecclesiastes 5:10 tells us that money and wealth will never satisfy. John D. Rockefeller, at one time the richest man on the planet, was once asked by a reporter “How much money is enough?” Rockefeller replied, “Just a little bit more.” All the money in the world can never satisfy our desire. Trusting in money is a vain exercise. Proverbs tells us that riches cannot save from God’s just judgment and trust in money will fail in the end (Pr. 11:4, 28). Jesus echoes this, teaching that all the money in the world cannot save a single soul (Matt 16:26; Mk 8:36-37). And yet, money in and of itself is neither good or bad. God is concerned about our attitude towards money and its place in our hearts. It is interesting that Jesus says someone cannot serve God and money in Matthew 6:24 – one might expect him instead to say God or the devil. However, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus clearly explains God’s upside-down economy that is at odds with worldly desires. He shows that the emphasis we place on obtaining money demonstrates whether we truly love God or money. Rather than seeking to obtain treasure and wealth on earth, we are to store up treasure in heaven (Matt 6:19-21). In his first letter to Timothy, Paul reminds that the love of money is the root of many evils. This love is an idolatrous and adulterous relationship – in setting our hope on something other than God wealth is put in the position that God rightly deserves (1 Tim 6:10, 17, 18).
But, one might ask, what about all of the promises made in the Old Testament about being prosperous and blessed by keeping the commands of God? The short answer is that the old covenant has been fulfilled in Christ. Additionally, Paul says in Galatians 3 that anyone who attempts to live under the old law is cursed because the whole law must be kept (Gal 3:10). And James says that to break one of the commandments is the same as breaking them all (Jas 2:10). So, it is impossible to be right with God based on our works in keeping the law. The righteous shall live by faith (Hab 2:4; Gal 3:11). Faith is grounded in the person and work of Jesus Christ, not in our own ability to keep the law. As such, all riches and treasure are in Christ, not in the wealth of the world.
Health
Ok, even if Christians should not expect to become materially wealthy, surely, they can expect to live a life free of sickness and disease. After all, Psalm 103:3 clearly states that the Lord heals all diseases – and by Jesus’ stripes we are healed (Is 53:5). The Gospels record many instances of Jesus healing people and giving power to his disciples to do the same (Matt 10:8). Does this mean that Christians experiencing sickness and disease are lacking faith or living in sin? While many in the Word of Faith and New Apostolic Reformation movements would claim this is true, the Bible gives a different story. Sin is the ultimate cause of sickness and disease – resulting from the fall in Genesis 3. God removes mankind from the garden before they can eat of the Tree of Eternal Life (Gen 3:22-24) and He sets a limit on the lifespan (Gen 6:3). Why is this important? True healing reverses the effects of the fall – sickness and death. This is the promised healing in Revelation 21, when a new heaven and new earth mean the end of sin, death, disease, pain, and sorrow. This healing is certain, having been purchased through Christ’s death on the cross – making a way of reconciling all of creation back to God, even those most hostile towards God (Col 1:20-22). All physical healing points towards God’s final, ultimate healing – the removal of sin and its effects. The healings done by Jesus were a witness of who He is and signs of His authority (John 6:36; 7:31). Similarly, the healings done by the Apostles in Acts demonstrated the power and authenticity of the gospel message. And yet, neither Jesus nor the Apostles healed everyone who was sick. Jesus even left crowds behind to go to other places (Mk 1:38). So how does one make sense of this? On one hand, God promises to heal all diseases and on the other, many faithful Christians continue to struggle with sickness and disease. The sometimes hard truth is this – it is not always God’s will to heal Christians here on earth. Think about it for a moment: a God who heals on demand is not a god at all, but instead becomes a wish-granting genie subject to the wills and whims of his creation. But that is not the God of the Bible. His ways are not our ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts. His plans are eternal in scope and perspective (Is 55:8-9).
In the writings of Paul, we find examples where God chose not to heal. Paul left Trophimus ill at Miletus. He tells Timothy to take some wine with his water for his stomach ailments. And Paul himself struggles with “a thorn in the flesh.” In his struggle, we gain insight about the wisdom of God. God’s power is perfected in our weakness and His grace is sufficient for us (2 Cor 12:9). God has promised that He will conform all who believe into the image of His beloved Son – we call this process sanctification. Often, He uses sickness and disease to draw us into deeper reliance on Him for our joy and sustaining. In His glorious wisdom, our suffering is the way we become more Christ-like and causes us to look forward with longing for the day when all sickness and disease will cease. Until then, there is no permanent healing in this life. We will all die. And yet, for Christians, that death is the doorway into a glorious eternity!
The Struggle
Many people today embrace the concept of living the best life, now. With this comes the expectation that health and wealth should naturally flow from one’s relationship with Christ. And yet, Jesus himself promises nothing to us in this life except tribulation and trouble (John 16:33). Despite this, we are not called to huddle up and brace ourselves for terrible things. Instead, we are called to cast off the things that entangle us and run with endurance the race set before us, looking to Christ as the author and perfecter of our faith (Heb 12:1-2). The struggle is real. But for a Christian, as we have seen, the best life is yet to come! We are no longer bound by the things of this world – its desires, passions, and lusts – but are sojourners and aliens, passing through this life on our way to eternity.
Does this mean that God will never heal, will never cure diseases here? Not at all! We are to ask Him to do these things, in faith, with the understanding that God knows what is best and will act accordingly. Our sanctification is far more important to Him than a temporary reprieve. Paul puts it this way in 2 Corinthians 4:17: “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” So, should Christians expect a life of health and wealth on their way to the Promised Land? Don’t you believe that for a minute! God has a much greater inheritance in store than the temporary and unsatisfactory pleasures of this life. In Christ, Christians have an inheritance worth far more than anything this world has to offer. Won’t you live like it?
