How to be Rich Toward God

Are You Rich Toward God?

Very few people in this life conquer the stronghold of money, supply, provision, and increase. They look for secret strategies and get-rich-quick schemes. Christians are overwhelmingly gullible to these things, unfortunately. When you are rich toward God, you won’t worry about money – money will worry about you! It will lie awake worrying that there won’t be enough of itself to meet the demand of your faith and your commitment to allow money to move by the Spirit in your life. Jesus told a story about a man who had everything. His fields were overflowing, and his barns couldn’t hold the harvest. He decided to tear down his old barns to build bigger ones. He thought, “I’ll have enough stored up for years. I can relax, eat, drink, and be merry.” But that very night, he died. Jesus called him a “fool.”

This isn’t just a story about a rich man; it’s a profound warning for all of us. Jesus wasn’t condemning wealth itself, but our hearts’ relationship with it. He challenged us to consider: What are we truly rich in?

The Parable’s Warning

The rich man’s great mistake was believing that his security and happiness were found in his possessions. His life revolved around “I will do this… I will tear down… I will store all my grain… I will say to myself.” His focus was entirely on himself and his earthly treasures, with no thought for God or others. His great lack was in a failure to be “others” oriented.

Jesus’ warning is clear: you cannot serve both God and money. When we trust in our bank accounts, our possessions, or our careers for our security, we are serving a false god. This is the danger of being “rich on earth” but not “rich toward God. Not that you can’t serve God and HAVE money, that is a false assumption. You can’t serve God and “mammon,” but you can serve God WITH money.

How to Be “Rich Toward God”

Being rich toward God means investing in things that have eternal value. It’s about building a life not on a foundation of possessions, but on a foundation of faith, generosity, and love. Faith works by love. God so loved that He gave. Generosity is the primary way God’s love manifests in our lives; likewise, generosity should flow out of us to others, but you won’t do that with a lack mentality like this, unfortunately, “rich” man. People complain about being provoked to give and be generous – when they do this, they aren’t being spiritual or showing “integrity,” which is a common false demand – they are really rebelling at the prospect of being LIKE GOD, for God is a loving, giving God. Love and generosity are one in the same in His kingdom. 

Here’s what that looks like in action:

• Generosity: Use your resources—your time, talent, and treasure—to bless others. When you give to the poor, support the church, or help a neighbor in need, you’re not losing something; you’re storing up treasure in heaven that will pay dividends both NOW and in eternity. There’s nothing godly about poverty because God is not poor. Why would you allow someone to teach you that being poor is like being God when you think about how God depicts the environment where He lives and promises to bring us to when we die? 
• Trust: True richness is found in a deep trust in God, not in the abundance of what you own. That doesn’t mean that abundance is wrong. Jesus said, ‘I came that you might have life and have it more abundantly.’ How can you call yourself a Christian and say “I don’t believe in prosperity” when He said He “would that” desired that we prosper and be in health? Wrong thinking in this area causes us to place false trust in finite natural wealth rather than embracing the wealth of the kingdom, deploying it for the needs of others rather than our own. When you face uncertainty, do you first look at your bank account or do you look to God?
• Eternal Perspective: Live with an eternal perspective. Live with “eternity in view.” This life is short, and our earthly possessions are temporary. Don’t let money or the lack thereof dominate your life. Rather, by faith, dominate money by moving in generosity, even when your own needs are great and much more urgent. This is laying up treasure in heaven, for the only things that will last are our relationship with God and the love we’ve poured into others.

The final question from the parable is for us: “You fool! This very night, your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?”

Let’s not be fools. Let’s be rich toward God.