Poverty Comes From Sin. Does That Make Me a Sinner?

God never intended for people to be poor. Sin messed things up, but Christ came to give us freedom.

Poverty comes from sin… but that doesn’t mean it’s a sin to be poor.

If you’re having financial trouble and struggling with your faith in God because of it, there’s something you should know: God didn’t create poverty, and He never intended you to live in it. Everything that we know about God tells us that He is a God of abundance.

Poverty wasn’t God’s design. It entered the world when humanity went off track. When Adam and Eve chose sin, they didn’t realize they were choosing poverty too. But poverty — along with hurt, abuse and injustice — is what they got. And today, we all live with the consequences.

Your financial problems might be a result of your own bad decisions. Or you might be living in unfair circumstances completely outside of your control. But no matter how you got to where you are, it’s important to recognize that God made you for more.

Poverty Was Not God’s Plan

Poverty is a type of spiritual and financial slavery, a condition that God never intended us to live in. He tells us this over and over in the Bible. Here’s a straightforward passage from Deuteronomy 15:4-6 that expresses this idea clearly:

⁴ However, there need be no poor people among you, for in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you, ⁵ if only you fully obey the Lord your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today.⁶ For the Lord your God will bless you as he has promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. You will rule over many nations but none will rule over you.

There are two key concepts that we can take away from this passage. The first is that poverty is not necessary. God tells the people up front that “there need be no poor people among you.” Why? Because the world that He created for us and the land that He gives us to live in are good.

God’s heart is to bless people with abundant food, abundant money, and abundant resources. Remember, everything in the world belongs to God, and He gives it to us to take care of our needs.

The second takeaway here is that our abundance is conditional. God doesn’t promise to take care of all of our physical needs regardless of our decisions. Instead, He says that blessing is conditional on obedience. “If only you fully obey the Lord your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today.” God’s promise of provision only applies as long as we are walking in His principles. Poverty comes from sin, but obedience brings blessing.

Does that mean that God is vengeful and vindictive, punishing those who disobey him with poverty? Not at all. What it means is that God is so good and so loving that He spells out exactly how we should live in order to enjoy wealth and abundance. Most of us would never have figured out how to live in abundance on our own. So in His mercy, God showed us how.

If you want to enjoy financial freedom, the best place to start is by embracing God’s will for your life.

Poverty Comes From Sin, Even When It’s Not Fair

Poverty comes from sin — does this mean that every poor person is being punished for some horrible sin? Does it mean that just being poor is sinful? No and no.

Very often — too often — people suffer in poverty because people in their families, their countries or their governments have sinned against them. It’s certainly not fair. But then again, sin never is, and victims never deserve the mistreatment they receive.

Despite all this, though, there is good news. Jesus came to set us free from sin and all its consequences — including poverty. God has a plan for your life, and following His plan will set you free in your finances.

Undoing the Curse of Poverty

Poverty comes from the broken human condition. But you don’t have to struggle for a life of struggle and stress. In fact, I have a free resource that can help you turn your financial life around.

My video series “Stress-Free Finance” will give you simple and easy-to-follow steps that will help you stop worrying about money and start building a better future. Here’s a preview. You can get the whole series free by filling out the form below the video.

Join me, and we’ll walk step-by-step together on the road to financial freedom. Put poverty in the past and embrace the life God intended for you.