John Piper on the Prosperity Gospel

I saw this over on Steve Camp's blog, Camp On This, and just had to share it here as well. I would only add that I am not entirely sure what I think of Piper's final statement, that "God is most glorified in you when you are satisfied in the midst of loss, not prosperity."

While I think that this is generally true, I wonder about a statement like this from the Apostle Paul:

"I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:12-13)

It seems that for Paul it took just as much of the strength of Christ to "abound" as it did to "suffer need." After all, for example, doesn't it require the strength of Christ to overcome the many temptations that times of prosperity can bring? Such as temptations to trust in money rather than God? Or to be satisfied with things other than God?

Perhaps we can say that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him whether in the midst of loss or in the midst of prosperity. It depends upon whether or not we acknowledge Him as more important than the things we might have in times of prosperity.

As always, I welcome the thoughts of the blogs readers.

Soli Deo Gloria!