Health or Wealth ?

A modern adaptation of Ben Franklin's adage, "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise," is being promoted today in the evangelical world. It is heralded from the pulpit and hailed on television. It has been made the theme of great crusades, fellowship meetings, prayer groups, and volumes of paperbacks sold in Christian bookstores.

Ben Franklin's quote from Poor Richard's Almanac has a 20th-century counterpart in slogans like this : "God wants every Christian well." "No Christian ever needs to be sick." "If you are not successful or do not have an abundance of all things, it is not God's fault." Or how about these? "If you tithe, you can be assured that you will prosper financially." "God wants all His children prosperous."
This collage of glib mottoes on health and wealth is further exploited by formulas calling for the "release of faith," by pleas for you to give so that you will receive, and by the use of gimmicks to produce what satisfies the flesh, not the spirit.

No assurance is given in the Bible that it is the will of the Father for every Christian to be rich in this world's possession and also to be exempt from sickness. In fact God promises in 2 Corinthians 12:9 "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness".

1 John 5:14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

Sometimes sickness is allowed for our own betterment and to bring God glory.

[Extracted from Christian Living-Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise? by Paul R.Van Gorder]