I Wanna Be Rich!

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that although he was rich, he became poor for your sakes, so that you by his poverty could become rich.”  2 Corinthians 8:9

When we hear the words “wealth” or “rich” or even “poverty” our minds, or at least my mind, goes immediately to financial wealth. I wonder if God laughs at that, kind of like we would chuckle at a child who is surprised in a game of peek-a-boo? True, our God is financially wealthy. After all, He owns the cattle on a thousand hills! But realistically, this means very little to Him because He sees worldly, financial wealth for what it is, a vapor, here today and gone tomorrow. It's a tool that He uses to teach us and guide us. In and of itself it has no importance, any more than the hammer on my husband's workbench.

So, what kind of wealth is Paul referring to in this verse if not financial? I believe He's talking about what I would call "spiritual wealth." This would refer to the depth of our connection to and relationship with God. You see, before Jesus came down to Earth, He was in Heaven, in perfect connection with the Father. We read about this in the beginning of John where it says: 

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God. The Word was with God in the beginning. All things were created by him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created."

They were perfectly joined together to the point where Jesus (the Word) was "fully God." I can't even imagine the wonderfulness of this, and I am so humbled by how much Jesus must have loved us to be willing to give that up, for a time, for us. And so, He who was rich (spiritually) became poor (spiritually) for us as He became fully human and was born into earthly, even financial, poverty. As a human baby, He was unable to grasp anymore the fullness of the Father. He had to grow up in wisdom and knowledge, and in faith. Now, He was still fully God in the midst of all this. I can't say I understand that, but if you have some insight, I'd love to hear it in the comments! So, Jesus, who was rich spiritually, became poor spiritually, for us. 

Even more, on the cross He reached the rock bottom of spiritual poverty as He took on the sin of the world and was separated from the Father entirely. Now, Jesus had moved about from place to place during His ministry, living a transient lifestyle without a home, but in that moment, Jesus was truly homeless, as sin cannot be present in Heaven with God. He was as poor as you can get. Can you imagine the Elon Musk, the current richest person in the world, giving everything up and dying for you? Now, Elon is a character and has been known to do some wild things, but I can't begin to imagine this. And compared to God, Elon is a pauper - both spiritually AND financially. And just to give you a picture of what we're talking about I learned today that: 

Actually, I did the math on this and their numbers are outdated. By my calculations, you would only have 3.8% of his current wealth. But again, all that is worthless! He can't take it with him. It will do him no good, not a bit, when he dies. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

So, why would Jesus do this? He had EVERYTHING literally. His life, His relationship with God, was perfect. Why would He give that all up for us? One word, love. 

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  John 3:16

MIND. BLOWN.

That's something so big; I can't do the math on it! There are no numbers to encompass what God gave for us, so that we might have spiritual wealth in Him.

What is this spiritual wealth that Jesus gave up so much for us to have? It's a relationship with Him. Its living every day knowing that I am a child of God. It's the forgiveness of my sins that I could never earn. It's His righteousness substituted for my sinfulness, covering me like newly fallen snow. 

Here's the Thing: In Him I am truly and forever rich! Elon's got nothing on me! The wealth that I have is eternal - I CAN take it with me! I have the only thing that lasts forever, a relationship with Jesus!

BLOG UPDATE: 

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