"Enjoying wealth is wrong when Jesus said it's hard for the rich to enter heaven."
How it sounds in your head: Jesus literally said it's easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter heaven. Every dollar you accumulate is another brick in the wall between you and God. Maybe you should give it all away and live in voluntary poverty to really follow Him.
"Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy."
-- 1 Timothy 6:17Source: Religion misinterpreting Jesus' confrontation of the rich young ruler's idolatry as a universal condemnation of wealth.
You've read the Gospels and Jesus definitely seems to favor the poor and warn the rich. The tension between your bank account and those red-letter warnings creates constant unease about whether you can be both blessed and saved.
After Job's suffering, the Lord blessed his latter days more than his beginning—14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, 1,000 female donkeys. God didn't restore him to poverty but to GREATER wealth than before as a display of blessing.
I REFUSE the lie that enjoying wealth separates me from God. IT IS WRITTEN that God gives us richly all things to ENJOY. My trust is not in uncertain riches but in the living God who is the source of every good gift. The issue Jesus addressed was IDOLATRY, not PROSPERITY. IT IS WRITTEN that the blessing of the Lord makes rich and adds no sorrow. I am blessed to BE a blessing, walking in the Abrahamic covenant that promises abundance. I enjoy God's provision with gratitude, not guilt, knowing He delights in prospering His children.
Your Father didn't restore the prodigal to servant status—He threw a party with the fattened calf, best robe, and family ring. He's not a miser doling out scraps but a lavish Father who killed the calf He'd been SAVING for this moment of celebration.