Do You Desire A Life Of Prosperity Or A Life Of Freedom?

If you went out on the street and asked people what their desire in life was, you’d likely get a varying range of answers. Some people would probably give you spiritual answers like “To serve God.” Some would probably give selfless answers like “To help other people.” Maybe more might be general “To be happy.” or “To be successful.” A lot, if you gave them this prompt, might say “to be loved.”

When you think about what you desire for your life to look like, how do you picture that life? Is it one where you’re in constant pain? Unless you’re some kind of weirdo, my guess is that you would desire your life to be filled with many blessings and opportunities.

As I watched the new documentary called American Gospel (free on Netflix), I was struck by a stark contrast. There was a guy who grew up in the prosperity gospel movement. He was the nephew of one of the most famous of these prosperity preachers — Benny Hinn. For some time he worked for his uncle. He thought that this was the best thing he could do. After all, could he do a more wholesome thing than work for such a holy man as his uncle who goes about healing people?

He talked about the life he lived when they were doing this. He stayed in $20,000/night hotel rooms, he had two multi-million dollar homes, he flew everywhere on private jets, etc. Almost everything he did, most people would look at and say it was the dream. Perhaps the epitome of the “American Dream.” Living life to the fullest, right?

In the documentary, at the same time that it was showing a flashback to his life and journey in the prosperity gospel world, it paralleled a story of a couple. The husband grew up in the hood and was doing drugs by the age of 12. Completely on the track of destruction, following the path of his father, mother, grandmother, and most of the figures he had in his life.

Long story short, at the age of 18, this man, though he had nothing, was introduced to Christ. And over the next several years started to know him more and more. I don’t know all the details of his story, but when he was living in a cockroach-infested apartment, he got married. As he and his wife grew in their faith, they felt God made it clear that they were to go overseas to share the good news of the gospel that had changed their life with those who didn’t know it. They went to a jungle village in Peru and lived there with the natives.

In the documentary, while you’re seeing pictures and videos of the first guy in hotel resorts in some of the most beautiful places on earth, this couple is using a 5-gallon bucket to get dirty water to use for drinking and dishwasher, basically living in the equivalent of a treehouse. Spiders and huge South American bugs terrorized them and bit them constantly.

From the outside perspective looking at these people, the first looks so much nicer. A life of luxury and everything your heart desires. The second looks like something that might be a fun/interesting experience for a couple of days.

But to hear these people talk after the fact about their lives, the one that talked about not being fulfilled and wished that they hadn’t done what they did was the first guy, not the couple. The couple, instead, talked about how rewarding their time serving God in Peru was.

Similarly, another couple in the documentary had talked about their story. Both pretty much atheists. Or at least not really believing in God. But after a chain of events, they were both lead to start seeking and trusting God. The wife ended up having many, many health complications. Pretty much every disease and or health issue you can think of, she had it. This, instead of causing them to be angry with God, strengthened their faith. So much so to the point that she says at the end that if she had the option to go back to her former self, who was extremely healthy and fit, instead of the state she was in now (having to be fed straight into her intestines for starters), she would never do that. She says that her days now are so, so much more filled with joy and true happiness.

Perhaps a bit long-winded in the examples given, but it makes me ask the question, what do people desire? So they desire to live a life of freedom? What does that mean? Is that freedom to do literally anything they want to do whenever they want to do it? Do they desire to live a life full of prosperity? Do they desire to live a purpose-filled life? Do you desire that?

When asking yourself this question, I challenge you to watch documentaries like this or read stories of people like Joni Eareckson Tada, or Corie Ten Boom, or Richard Wurmbrand. People who, from the outside seem like they couldn’t have desired the life they live(d), yet if you read the way they talk about their life, it certainly seems like they lived that life they were given to the fullest and didn’t regret anything that God had set before them.