Pride of Prosperity
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worked to confuse the minds of the Israelites in regard to true and
false worship, and they became an easy prey. Commerce with other
nations brought them into intimate contact with those who had no love
for God, and their own love for Him was greatly lessened. Their keen
sense of the high, holy character of God was deadened. Refusing to
follow in the path of obedience, they transferred their allegiance to the
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enemy of righteousness. It came to be a common practice to intermarry
with idolaters, and the Israelites rapidly lost their abhorrence of idol
worship. Polygamy was countenanced. Idolatrous mothers brought
their children up to observe heathen rites. In the lives of some, the
pure religious service instituted by God was replaced by idolatry of
the darkest hue.
Christians are to keep themselves distinct and separate from the
world, its spirit, and its influences. God is fully able to keep us in the
world, but we are not to be of the world. His love is not uncertain
and fluctuating. Ever He watches over His children with a care that
is measureless. But He requires undivided allegiance. “No man can
serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other;
or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve
God and mammon.”
Matthew 6:24
.
Solomon was endued with wonderful wisdom, but the world drew
him away from God. Men today are no stronger than he; they are
as prone to yield to the influences that caused his downfall. As God
warned Solomon of his danger, so today He warns His children not to
imperil their souls by affinity with the world. “Come out from among
them,” He pleads, “and be ye separate, ... and touch not the unclean
thing, and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall
be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”
2 Corinthians
6:17, 18
.
In the midst of prosperity lurks danger. Throughout the ages, riches
and honor have ever been attended with peril to humility and spiritu-
ality. It is not the empty cup that we have difficulty in carrying; it is
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the cup full to the brim that must be carefully balanced. Affliction and
adversity may cause sorrow, but it is prosperity that is most dangerous
to spiritual life. Unless the human subject is in constant submission
to the will of God, unless he is sanctified by the truth, prosperity will
surely arouse the natural inclination to presumption.