Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Danger of 'spiritual greed'

At the Gospel-Driven Church, Jared Wilson warns about the dangers of the stealth prosperity gospel hiding in the whole "victorious Christian living" schtick:
The problem over time is that, going from victory to victory, expecting victory after victory, cultivates a contagious form of spiritual greed. (Is it any wonder that this sort of teaching often goes hand and hand with talk of financial riches and prosperity?) The real stuff of discipleship -- what Eugene Peterson calls "a long obedience in the same direction" -- involves hard stuff like discipline and the fruit of the Spirit. In pop discipleship discipline is replaced by steps, tips, and amazingsupercolossal breakthroughs.
True. Jared goes on to make another telling point:
Prosperity gospel then, ironically, breeds discontentment. We are never abiding with God where we are, because we always consider what we have less than what's available (or at least less than what our neighbor has). We always think of today as less than tomorrow. But you cannot get to resurrection day without going through the cross.
Exactly. And Jared doesn't simply criticize; he goes on to describe true conmtentment and how to attain it.

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