The True Test of a Man’s Character….

The true test of a man’s character is not how he handles adversity, many can do that. The true test of His character is how he handles prosperity. Take lottery winners for instance. Most (I don’t know the exact %, but it’s really high) lottery winners within 2 years are back to where they were before they won it. As a matter of fact, many of them are below the financial level they lived before their gain of wealth. Turn on your TV, most reality shows are about wealthy people. Their inability to handle the change in financial status along with their change in social status, leads to the only growth that matches this increase of economic gain, the size of their head. They seek out things the Bible calls evil, in order to bring comfort to them, or help them cope with this new found lifestyle. Psychics, mediums, card readers, are all visited by the wealthy, more so than the poor. The wealthy love life on earth, Heaven scares them, because they fear it might not be as good as life is here. Therefore they abandon God, altogether. Jesus did say, “it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter Heaven”, for a reason. Prosperity tends to distort our views on things, reverting our focus more onto ourselves rather than helping others. Does this hold true to all people? No, but I would say for every 100 people that can handle adversity and overcome it, there’s one that can handle prosperity. And yet here in America, most people’s number one goal in life is to get rich; something they won’t be able to handle if it were to come to fruition.

1 How prosperous Israel is–a luxuriant vine loaded with fruit. But the richer the people get,the more pagan altars they build. The more bountiful their harvests, the more beautiful their sacred pillars.2 The hearts of the people are fickle; they are guilty and must be punished. The Lord will break down their altars and smash their sacred pillars. Hosea 10:1-2