We often mistakenly believe that allegiance to Jesus entails poverty. However, when you see people in the Bible who surrendered their lives to God, you see them richly blessed beyond their wildest expectations.
1. Abraham obeyed God and left his homeland of Ur to follow God. He became very wealthy in livestock, silver, and gold (Genesis 13.2). He also became the founding father of a great nation (Genesis 12.2).
2. Solomon, King David’s son, chose to follow God at a very young age and asked God for wisdom. God was pleased with his request and gave him not only wisdom, but also great riches. (1 Kings 3.10-13). People came from all over the world to see everything Solomon achieved.
3. Jesus worked in the family business as a tekton (a carpenter, stonemason, and artisan [Mark 6.3]) until he was about 30. Then, as now, carpentry was a respectable trade providing a good income, leaving no room for speculation that Jesus’ peers would ever have considered him “poor.”
When you honor God, he rewards you. Don’t be misled into thinking those rewards are always material; but neither should you be misled in the other direction and think those rewards are never material.
But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.
Deuteronomy 8.18