Shame on Us! (1 Timothy 6:17-19)

[17] As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. [18] They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, [19] thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.
(1 Timothy 6:17-19 ESV)

This is a passage that we in modern, Western Christianity have deemed as being extra-Biblical, non-textual, or wrong. Either that or we have simply overlooked it. The only other explanation is that we chose to redefine wealthy to mean “Bill Gates” so as to exempt ourselves from this text and others like it. Otherwise, we would have to apply these words to ourselves as being amongst the richest Christians in the history of Christianity.

That would be a bad thing because we like (a) being proud, (b) trusting our money and things like insurance rather than God to protect our future, and (c) we like being able to judge the poor as being poor due to their lack of foresight or faith so as to justify not sharing our abundance with them.

So let’s just ignore this one.