Ask yourself this question: how much of your thinking about wealth aligns with God’s thinking?
I’ve found that many people can’t properly answer this question because most of their thinking about wealth is based on someone else’s perspective, their own feelings, some tradition they interacted with, or one of the million other reasons why 96% of Christians don’t have a biblical worldview.
Verse 7 is also worth noticing. “They teach man-made ideas as commands from God.” There are two abilities that you and I have. We have the ability to experience information, and we have the ability to interpret information. The problem often comes not in the experience, but the interpretation. There is nothing wrong with experiencing things. The problem always arises with us elevating our interpretation to the level of truth. Ideas are great, and interpretation is how the human mind makes sense of the world. The problem does not arise from my interpretation. My interpretation is just my interpretation. The problem arises when I elevate my interpretation to the level of a command from God. The human interpretation is often wrong, and needs to change. One of the truths I’ve discovered in my own life, is that the more I pursue God, the more my interpretation of information needs to change. Jesus gives us a philosophical challenge about our beliefs. He shows us that it’s not truth that affects us, it’s what we believe about truth. The Pharisees believed that their responsibility was to interpret the laws of God for people. They were the educated, academic, experts who studied the law of God in depth. The problem was not with their study. The problem arose when they decided that their ideas = God’s ideas. That’s also the problem with modern-day Pharisees. These descendants of ancient Pharisees are the kind of people who tell you that you can’t use instruments in worship, dancing and “secular music” are demonic, the King James translation was the version that Jesus used, women can’t wear makeup, you can’t wear a hat in church, the only true prayer that matters is if you pray in tongues, and you should only address God as Adonai. I didn’t make any of these examples up. These are all things that I have personally been told. Are these things good ideas? Should people practice them for one reason or another depending on their context? Maybe. Are they commands from God for us today? No. Not at all. We have to be able to clearly tell – and show – the distinction between God’s commands and human ideas. Or, we can be like Pharisees who get mad when other people don’t wash their hands before they eat.
Oftentimes, as humans, we think that something is true because we believe that it is. And what is interesting about the way that humans work, is that we find confirmation for our beliefs everywhere we tend to look. Jesus tells us that our beliefs are so important that they can actually prevent the “truth” of God’s word from being true in our lives. Some people are the kind of people who will show up to pray for someone in the hospital and will pray for “God’s will.” When you pray “God’s will” in a situation, what do you believe that it is? Do you believe that God’s will is to heal someone or not? That belief will determine how you pray, and how you act. Ultimately, it’s up to God to determine whether or not he wants to heal an individual. But, if I’m in the hospital, I don’t need “God’s will” prayers. I need prayers that align with God’s will to heal me. So many people tend to spiritualize the limitations they have placed on themselves – and God. This is the point that Jesus is making in Mark 7. It’s about a lot more than money. It’s about life. What you believe is even more important than what God’s word says. God has actually given us the power to cancel out the word of God in our own life through our thinking.
Thousands of times, Scripture teaches us that God’s will is to prosper us in every way. If we decide not to agree with God’s definition of prosperity, whether that’s because of culture, tradition or something else, then our prosperity will be limited by our belief, not by God’s will. The problem of prosperity is not God’s definition. It’s not whether God wants it for you. It’s whether you want it for you and are willing to agree with God’s definition.
Could the problem really be our own limited thinking? That seems to always be our problem.
8 “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD.
“And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so my ways are higher than your ways
and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.
10 “The rain and snow come down from the heavens
and stay on the ground to water the earth.
They cause the grain to grow,
producing seed for the farmer
and bread for the hungry.
11 It is the same with my word.
I send it out, and it always produces fruit.
It will accomplish all I want it to,
and it will prosper everywhere I send it.
(Isaiah 55:8-11, NLT)