Poverty Makes Us Righteous – A Myth

Do you think being poor makes us more righteous?

Many times, we think of people who live in strict self-denial, who are extremely frugal, or who have taken vows of poverty as holy and more righteous than others. Now this myth is built upon a belief that money is bad and only corrupts people. Another term for this myth is the “poverty gospel”. It can be just as devastating to our effectiveness as Christians as the “prosperity gospel”. Jesus never condemns wealth in the Bible. He also never exalts the state of being in poverty. Listen to what Proverbs 30:8-9 says, “Two things I ask of you;
deny them not to me before I die: Remove far from me falsehood and lying;
give me neither poverty nor riches;
feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you
and say, “Who is the Lord?”
or lest I be poor and steal
 and profane the name of my God.” 

These verses don’t exalt riches or support poverty. They don’t say that we all must be middle class either. They’re simply an expression of a proper heart attitude towards God and money. The Lord provides material needs to His children unequally, but His righteousness is spread equally. What we have doesn’t make us more righteous, and what we don’t have doesn’t change our righteousness either. We are only made righteous because of Jesus Christ. How we steward material possessions is a totally different matter. So, learn the difference and reject this myth.

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