Faith for Greater Riches

Hebrews 11: 24 By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, 26 esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in[e] Egypt; for he looked to the reward.

We have it all wrong when we esteem worldly riches higher than Christ. In this increasingly materialistic world, it has become commonplace for even Christians to become focussed on needs, desires and worldly riches whereby some feel completely unloved by God because of their lack, while others spend all their faith and time believing God for physical, emotional and material supply. While God indeed cares for our every need and invites us to pray and believe for his supply, He has made it abundantly clear that minds thus focussed on need and supply are carnal. In Matthew 6:33 Jesus says unequivocally, “SEEK first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all other things shall be added unto you. This is the RIGHT order. And it is not about trading of spiritual activity for material desires, it is about setting our hearts fully on the Lord our God, in love, desire, worship, submission and obedience and, holding in our hearts the cry of Jesus, “Hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come.” We cannot play faith like a game, and we cannot wheel and deal it like a business. God is faithful to His word and He sees the heart of men. James 4:2 says,”You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet^[a] you do not have because you do not ask. ³ You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your (selfish) pleasures. ⁴ Adulterers and^[b] adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?” God sees the heart that is merely substituting MAMMON for Him, and He sees the heart that truly seeks Him. Habakkuk 2:3 says, “The Just shall LIVE by faith”. Just as we first show faith by accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord, let us USE our faith to choose to live for Him. Let us choose to seek the Kingdom of God first, by faith, then let us use our faith for every promise and also every request He makes of us. Thus let us establish a life of sincere faith. Moses used his faith to refuse Egypt’s riches and power. He used his faith to identify with God’s enslaved people. He used his faith to esteem the REPROACH of Christ as FAR GREATER RICHES than what Egypt had to offer. No wonder then His great successes which followed, for God could trust him and use him. Moses used his faith to seek God’s richest riches, that of living close with God and pleasing him.