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Wealth of the wicked for the believer?
By admin | October 29, 2008
I hear so many believers make reference to the fact that God would transfer the wealth of the wicked into their laps. Therefore, though the title of the article might sound like a rhetoric question, there is an important truth that we need to be aware of.
The scripture reference is found in Proverbs 13:22,
A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children; And the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the righteous.
The reference in this scriptural verse refers to the righteous and not the believer. This is not a play on words. The obvious question that comes to mind is that, isn’t every believer righteous because of what Christ has done? After all, in 2 Corinthians 5:21 and 1 Corinthians 1:30, the scriptures tell us that we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
A good starting point is to go back to the definition of the word righteous. Righteousness simple means to be righteous and righteousness, in turn means that we have a right standing before God.
Therefore, what Paul is implying here is that because of the finished work of Christ on the cross, we now have a right standing before God. Indeed, because of this, we are encouraged to approach the throne of God with boldness, knowing that we are accepted.
On the other hand, there are scriptures such as Matthew 5: and Luke 6:33, where we are told to hunger and thirst after righteousness. In fact, in the Luke reference, Jesus places seeking righteousness above seeking for our daily water and food. If there was not a need to seek after righteousness, it would not have been recorded in the Bible. The righteousness spoken about here conveys the idea of moral righteous – doing what is right.
So how do the two scriptures fit together and what are we to make of it? The work of Christ enables us to have a right standing before God but the scriptures also encourage us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling i.e. now as believers, we should strive to continue to have a right standing before God.
We cannot say that because Christ has made us the righteousness of Christ, we can live our lives any-how because we have been bought with a price. However, the Christian journey is a process and a journey that we live in conjunction with the Holy Spirit.
We should thrive to make righteousness our main priority, so that, at all times, we have a right standing before God, with clean hands and a pure heart.
There is action involved on our part and as we do so, we can see that the wealth of the wicked, would be laid up, not for the believer but the righteous. We should seek to deliberately walk in a righteous manner.
Yes, we all know many people who are neither believers nor righteous, but are wealthy but that’s a discussion for another day.
However, for you, my fellow brothers and sisters, who are seeking the best from God, let’s remember, that the key to the wealth of the wicked, is the need to be righteous. Pursing God’s righteousness, you cannot go wrong.
I hope that you have enjoyed and be challenged by this post. Please don’t forget to leave your comments. So until I appear again in your inbox, stay blessed.
Ola Aroyehun
Topics: Uncategorized |
October 29th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
Nice Site layout for your blog. I am looking forward to reading more from you.
Tom Humes
November 9th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
This was very helpful to me. I have always beleived that we must do more than give to be blessed financially.
November 21st, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Ola,
Your article is very interesting. My question is this - can one be a beleiver without being righteous?
Uka Nwachukwu
Lagos Nigeria
November 21st, 2008 at 8:27 pm
I am contemplating this concept deeply lately. I was thinking about how everyone thinks that gaining wealth from the “wicked” is a great thing and that it can only be from God in these “last days”. What if the believers heart is not right at the time of “transfer of wealth” They are looking at this as a blessing from God. But could it also be a set up from Satan. Money can destroy people if there hearts are not in the right place. Some believers could be seduced into believing that this transfer of wealth was from the Lord and get completely taking out in this Babylonian society. It is a slow and seducing spirit that could draw you away from the Lord. I would like some input and response to my comment.
November 22nd, 2008 at 8:57 am
nice post. In this time of economic crisis, the wealth of the wicked will be transferred to the righteous. I heard a pastor preached about recession-proofing your income, he said giving/tithing is the key.
June 11th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Thanks for the confirmation! I was hoping this didn’t mean I had to wait until the sinner died before I inherited that wealth (giggle). But, God knows who is deserving of it and when will come. I do, however, think that this entire verse is pertaining to inheritance wealth. A good man isn’t always a godly or righteous man. He may plan to leave his inheritance for his grandchildren but God has a way of shifting that into the hands of the righteous.
August 22nd, 2009 at 4:17 am
I have heard the second part of this scripture thrown out there in many sermons. But I have never heard a teaching on it. You have to look at the verse in it’s context. The righteous think more of just themselves, they not only want to leave an inheritance for their children, but also for their children’s children; therefore they are good stewards with their money. But the sinner gains wealth and spends it on the things he sees today, he does not tithe, therefore his priorities cause him financial loss and he has nothing to pass on. God knows those who tithe faithfully, and allows the righteous to prosper thru opportunities that they did not labor for. Sometimes the wealthy sinner ends up leaving all his money to an organization rather than his own children because he allowed the enemy to destroy family relationships. Personally speaking, I am not waiting for any sinner’s wealth to fall in my lap, I just do the Lord’s work and count my blessings.
January 7th, 2010 at 11:46 am
I was blessed by the post, I can see the working of the word from your view. I do believe that when we were told to strive for righteousness by Christ we were told because it is the formula to being righteous. Once the Spirit of Christ is accpeted as a part of our lives we natrually yearn for righteousness. I said all that to make this point… I believe Paul spoke it that way in speaking a word of faith over us. That it is that way because the Lord told him so. And Righteous is defined as such. So to become it… search for it. There Lord can put His grip on opposite ends of “time”. Paul and Christ were speaking Eternally… we just view it in tenses. thanks for letting me chat… The Lord bless you and your desires to assist His purpose here on Earth.
January 15th, 2010 at 2:01 am
That’s really interesting that you focused on this verse. Anyone who has read this, do you now desire the riches of evil men? If so, take a look at Proverbs 12:12 - “The wicked desire the plunder of evil men, but the root of the righteous flourishes.” Have a great day! The Prosperity gospel: taking verses out of context since the 1850’s. yeah!
February 8th, 2010 at 3:53 pm
Whenever I hear about thus transfer of wealth in the last days, a red flag goes up in my spirit. We need to focus more on getting our hearts right with God and our priorities lined up with His and less on having the wealth of the wicked.
March 8th, 2010 at 8:19 am
And what if the unrighteous becomes a believer tomorrow. Will the righteous transfer back wealth to him?
‘The exhortation of proverbs is to live a righteous life & has nothing to do with the righteousness that God gives us.
Rather its a resonance of God’s continual faithfullness in providing for the upright