What About The Scriptural Passages That Preach Against Materialism

The Four Spiritual Laws of Prosperity : A Simple Guide to Unlimited Abundance
by Edwene Gaines

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I get this question a lot, especially regarding the passage from the Book of Mark that states that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle than it is for a rich man to enter the gates of heaven.

There are a lot of different interpretations of this Scripture. One is that there was an entry gate into Jerusalem called "The Eye of the Needle" because it was so small. Camels that came along with large cargo had to be unloaded so that the camel could get through and then be reloaded on the other side. If this is the eye of the needle the Scripture is referring to—and we do not know this conclusively—then it is merely more difficult (but not impossible) for a richly loaded camel to pass through.

"If we would only give, just once, the same amount of reflection to what we want to get out of life that we give to the question of what to do with a two-week vacation, we would be startled at our false standards and the aimless procession of our busy days." —Dorothy Canfield Fisher

I believe that sometimes you have to be willing to give up the good to receive the greater good. At some point, as we gain more and more, we realize our material possessions are not that which is truly making us happy, and we can move beyond them to another spiritual level. At that point, we unload our camels and proceed without the cargo. When we do, we are the master of the material goods, not the other way around. We do not need our material things, and we reach a place of happily letting go. You have made spiritual progress when you can have your things or not, and be happy regardless.

I think it's interesting that there are so very many scriptural references to prosperity and yet people tend to latch on to the ones that seem to suggest the nobility of poverty. But the Bible is full of promises of prosperity and abundance—far more than admonitions that suggest the virtue of doing without. The danger of money comes when we forget what it's there for. When it begins to cloud the parts of our lives that are much more important, such as the personal relationships we have with the people we love, or our personal relationship with God.

That's what happened to me when, at one point in my life, I married a very wealthy man. I forgot some basic truths. I forgot that money is valuable in what it can allow us to do, be, and enjoy, and instead mistook money as being valuable in and of itself.

I had come into great prosperity, but I forgot why I was on this planet. I got so wrapped up in the money and the beautiful material things I owned that I let go of the spiritual world and kind of drowned in all the luxury. My life became stale and stagnant.

Over time, the riches caused me to depart from my spiritual pathway. I lost my appreciation for the small things. And at some point the lavish house in the posh district of town came to feel like a prison. The wealth became a burden.

There is a story in the Bible of a rich young ruler who went to Jesus and asked, "What must I do to have eternal life?" and Jesus said, "Sell everything you own, give the money to the poor, and come follow me."

I finally had to admit to myself that perhaps I had entered the marriage for the wrong reasons, and the relationship ended. I left that expensive house full of beautiful furniture, leaving everything behind except the clothes on my back and some things I could put in my car. As I drove away, I felt like the rich young ruler in that I had to leave behind all my worldly goods. That was what I needed in that moment because it forced me to get back to my true nature and calling.

The mistake I think people make, however, is that they think they should always be forfeiting their material goods. But I don't believe that I—or you, or anyone—need to live a lifetime of desperation or poverty. In that moment, however, it was what I needed as a wake-up call and to keep my life from going any farther down the wrong track, away from my sense of spirituality, and what I knew to be true and important.

Once again, the issue is whether you are the master of your money, or if your money and worldly objects are the master of you. There are times in your life when you are using money as a tool to do the work you need to do on this Earth. At other times in your life, you might start getting mesmerized by the glitter of the gold, and momentarily forget what's really important to you. At those times, your money is mastering you.

"ISN'T POVERTY A VIRTUE?"

People tend to think this. But, I ask, if poverty is so great, why is a fundamental goal of the major religions to eradicate it?

I was raised in a fundamentalist faith, and I have read and reread the Bible all my life. And nowhere did I read, "Thou shalt learn to do without, to be and have less than you could, to be less than God sent you to be." Instead it says, "It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom," and by "kingdom," I believe Jesus meant not just the kingdom of heaven but also the joy of a life richly led right here on Earth.

During a period of terrible poverty, I went and got a red letter Bible (a Bible in which everything Jesus said was printed in red). Everything Jesus said was so positive. He urged us to ask for what we want, and to not be afraid. The stories he told were success stories, about people triumphing over incredible odds, and my thought was, I believe my loving God wants more for me in life than just a miserable existence where I don't know how I'm going to put food on the table.

Nobody wants to live in poverty. I've been there, and it's a terrible place to be. It's awful to wonder how you're going to pay the light bill or to suspect that someone might be coming to repossess your car. There's just nothing fun about it, and God wants us to have fun.

How do you live the life you're meant to live? You live real close to God. You acknowledge that you are a child of God, you're made in the image and likeness of the Most High, you're a spiritual being, and it is the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

You are rich with unlimited possibility. If you don't believe that, then you are spiritually poor, and will be living in constant physical poverty. Only when you genuinely believe that you are blessed with unlimited possibility can prosperity come into your life.

"WASN'T JESUS POOR?"

This is simply not true; he did not live a life of poverty. Jesus did not carry money with him, but everything he needed was provided for him in abundance. He stayed in good homes and ate the best food.

According to Scripture, Jesus had a seamless garment. Just think of the clothes you are wearing today and how many seams they have. Can you imagine the hours of labor that must go into making a seamless garment, and what it must have been worth? At the crucifixion, the centurions cast lots to see who would get that seamless garment.

"ARE WE DRAINING OUR NATURAL RESOURCES BY CONSUMING SO MUCH?"

Some people don't ask for what they want because they feel the world's supply is limited, and there isn't enough to go around. But this belief is false. "Well, what about the people starving in Ethiopia?" you might ask. I would answer that every day in this world, enough fruit falls off the trees and rots on the ground that could feed the globe. There is enough. We have a problem of distribution. We have not yet made it a priority to get the fruit to the hungry people before the fruit goes bad. But in terms of quantity, there is more than enough.

The truth is that we live in a lavish and abundant universe, in which everything we could ever want or need can and will be provided to us. And if we don't lay hold of what God provides, that's not God's fault. It's ours.

WE MUST LEARN TO ASK

There is a scriptural quote that I love so much, I sometimes have it printed on my stationery: "And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." (John 14:13)

Isn't that wonderful? It says, in essence, "Whatever it is that you want, if you ask for it in my name, you'll get it." The promise is so straightforward, and there are no qualifiers. No if's, and's or but's. There's no, "As long as it's a good idea . . ." or "Just so long as it doesn't seem greedy . . ." It doesn't say any of that. It says, "Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that I will do . . ." In the name of this indwelling Christ, this indwelling Christ will do for you so that you can glorify God.

"The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change." —Carl Rogers

Let me tell you something. God is not glorified by poverty. God is not glorified by illness. God is not glorified when you feel guilty or unworthy. God is not glorified when you run around playing the victim.

God is glorified when you stand up and acknowledge who you are and claim your birthright. And who are you? You are a divine being, a child of God the Most High, a person who deserves to have every good thing that life has to offer.

Now, it may be that some of the things I'm telling you here are hard for you to accept. They might be the opposite of what you've been told all your life, and you might feel that you can't just transform your thinking instantly, as if by magic. Learning a brand new way of thinking can take some time and concerted effort, so I'd like to introduce a practice that many people find helpful in changing a long-held mindset: affirmations.

An affirmation is a statement about what is really true (despite what outward appearances may lead one to believe). When you make a positive statement with conviction, you open up a space in your life for that good to appear.

I suggest you try using affirmations to launch you on your new journey. Write them out, and then speak them aloud three times a day for 21 days. And as you're speaking the words, don't mumble! Speak them with power, from your solar plexus. Say the affirmation as if you absolutely believe it, without a trace of doubt.

Below are some affirmations that I like. You may feel free to use them, or you may want to make up some of your own. If you make up some of your own, remember the key is that you are making a statement about what you desire as if it is already true.

You might say any or all of the following:

• My Father/Mother God loves me.
• I am God's beloved child.
• I am forgiven for all mistakes of the past.
• It is God's good pleasure to give me the kingdom.
• I seek the kingdom in all that I experience.
• Because I serve God, I have a right to the abundant life. I have a right to riches.
• Every one of God's children has a right to abundance.
• Because I give of my time, energy, and money, I am in the flow of inexhaustible substance.
• I love to tithe to where I receive my spiritual food. I give lavishly and joyously.
• Rich, divine ideas flow through me to bless and prosper all humankind. I want God's good for everyone.
• My abundance benefits everyone, and everyone's abundance benefits me.
• I set specific goals and let God lead me to accomplish them.
• I am thankful for all my seen and unseen blessings.
• My faith in God is firmly established. I live by faith.
• My thoughts, words, and deeds are divinely creative.
• Because I am faithful in small matters, my Lord makes me master over great matters.
• Never do I seek personal credit; I glorify God in all that I do.
• I am a world server. I serve God in the world. I walk through the world transforming it as I go.
• I am joyous, peaceful, healthy, enthusiastic, wise, loving, and rich. Praise God!
• Forgiveness is my daily business. And I am faithful in prayer to cleanse my emotional nature of bitterness, irritation, blame, and guilt.
• God and I are in the business of loving, giving, and serving.
• I serve God.
• Money serves me.

The truth is that you can have everything you want in this life. You can be free from the grips of poverty, and instead live a life of joy and faith and prosperity. You can live according to your divine purpose, in line with God's plan, with everything you could possibly want or need at your fingertips. If only you can learn to master money.

Mastering money while moving into prosperity is what you will learn to do through the simple but vital principles laid out in this book. And it is a journey that I promise will change your life.

So let's get started.

© 2005 Edwene Gaines. All rights reserved. No Part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any other information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher.

About the Author

Edwene Gaines, overcame poverty to live a lifestyle of wealth. She has been an ordained Unity minister for the past 25 years and gives prosperity workshops throughout the United States, speaking as often as 250 times a year.