Pride in Prosperity

In his book, Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote, “…pride is spiritual cancer: it eats up the very possibility of love, or contentment, or even common sense.”

The Bible also warns about the sin of pride, and the boasting that comes with it. In Luke 1216 – 18, Jesus tells his followers a parable about a rich man who is proud of his prosperity.

“The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.’”

At first, this might look like an example of good stewardship; a rich man plans to take care of his abundant resources, but when you look more closely at the rich man’s words, you will see that he’s giving all the credit for his wealth to himself.

“I have nowhere to store my crops,” he says. Then, “I will tear down my barns…” He uses the words “I” and “my” nine times just in these two verses. He never acknowledges God’s provision, or even considers God at all. 1 Corinthians 4:7 condemns this attitude: “What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” 1 Timothy 6:7-8 encourages an attitude of gratitude and humility about material things: “For we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.” How often are you tempted to be proud of the good financial things that happen in your life? You work hard, and you finally pay off that car loan. You save enough money to take a much-needed vacation. You invest carefully and your nest egg grows; but are any of these things really your doing? The Bible reminds us that God is the author of every good gift. That means any boasting we do should be about how awesome God is, not about how clever or successful or rich we are. 2 Corinthians 10:17-18 explains why: “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.” The rich man in Jesus’ parable isn’t being a faithful steward, because a faithful steward understands that the Lord is the source of financial blessings. Instead of feeling proud about their possessions, faithful stewards use their resources to glorify God and serve others.

The rich man in Jesus’ parable misses the mark by taking credit for his success and by using his wealth only to serve himself. He is both proud and greedy. Jesus continues the parable in Luke 12:19 with the man’s boastful words:

“And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’”

Jesus completes the parable with the moral of the story*: “So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”*

God calls the rich man a fool because the man expected to find security, hope, and joy in his abundant possessions. He went to great lengths to protect what he had, for his own glory. After having everything, he ended up with nothing, because he was not rich towards God. As King Solomon points out in Ecclesiastes 5:10-12, money cannot really fulfill anyone’s desire for abundance. “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity.”

Are you frequently anxious about finances? Do you envy what other people have? When things go well, do you feel like you deserve at least a little credit? Jesus told the parable of the rich fool to point you and me to the only true source of life and abundance— Himself.

As we quoted earlier, C.S. Lewis called pride “spiritual cancer.” He goes on to say: “As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.” If you’d like to combat pride in your life and grow closer to the Lord, purchase our newguide entitled Rich Toward God. With the Lord's guidance, FaithFi created it to expand our understanding of His amazing love for us and what it means to follow him with all our hearts. Get a copy for personal study or for everyone in your Bible study group to experience it together. Go to FaithFi.com/RTG to learn more. You can also listen the related podcast on this topic.