Becoming the Kind of Person God Can Lead to Abundance

Let me start with an exercise. Write down what you will do if I hand you ten million dollars at the end of this service today.

Now be honest. How many of us would have to think it through right here, right now? And how many of us already had those plans written down — clear, detailed, waiting — for the last three or four years? That is what this proverb wants to search out in us — not the size of our dreams, but the state of our preparation.

The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, but those of everyone who is hasty, surely to poverty.

Proverbs 21:5 (NKJV)

Notice what the Bible does not say. It does not say “the hard work of the diligent leads to plenty.” It says the plans of the diligent lead to plenty. It is not sweat alone that brings abundance. It is not hustle alone that leads to wealth. It is the quality of your thoughts, your planning, your inner man.

The reason many of us never see ten million dollars is not that God is stingy with His blessings. It is that we have not yet become the kind of person God can lead into abundance — the kind of person described in this verse, whose thoughts and plans tend to plenty.

What kind of person?

The Hebrew word translated “diligent” is ḥārûṣ — a word that carries the sense of gold: sharp, excellent, refined. So the diligent person in this proverb is not simply a man who works tirelessly, but a man who has been worked on tirelessly by God. Not a woman who grinds endlessly, but a woman whom God has ground, polished, and refined into high-quality gold.

That changes everything about how we read the verse. Diligence is not measured in sweat; it is measured in quality — a God-produced quality. This is not about how much you do, but about how much God has done in you. Gold does not become gold by hurrying. It becomes gold by refining — heat, pressure, and the patient removal of everything impure.

Three marks of the person God can trust

So what does this refined, gold-quality person look like? Let me give you three marks.

First, God has destroyed their love of money.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

1 Timothy 6:10 (NKJV)

The love of money is the root of all evil — not money itself. Until money can no longer buy your loyalty, you are not free. And do not boast about your morals until you have money to finance your temptations. God will test this in you: will you tithe at a thousand dollars a month, and also at ten thousand? Will you still be humble when your giving equals half of the church’s income? The person God can lead to abundance has passed through that fire.

Second, they choose God over mammon — every time.

No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

Matthew 6:24 (NKJV)

The rich young ruler loved God — but he loved money more, and when Jesus put His finger on it, he walked away sorrowful. Hear this: God will let you lose money if that is what it takes to save your soul. The person God can bless is the one who will walk away from money rather than walk away from God.

Third, they use money to make friends, not friends to make money. Jesus pressed this in Luke 16. Heaven’s streets are paved with gold because gold is nothing more than dust to the citizens of heaven. If you can still change how you treat people based on the money in your pocket — warmer to the wealthy, cooler to the poor — you are not yet heaven’s kind. Let me ask it this way: if God gave you heaven today, would you walk on the streets of gold, or would you mine them?

He prospers because he is prosperous

Here is the principle underneath all of this. This person is not prosperous because he has prospered. He prospers because he is prosperous. Abundance is not something he chases; it is something he attracts.

The LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man.

Genesis 39:2 (KJV)

Joseph was this kind of man. Notice when that verse was written: Joseph was a slave in Potiphar’s house. He owned nothing — and the Bible still calls him a prosperous man. Even in slavery, his prosperity showed, because it was never in what he owned. It was in who he was. Potiphar could see it. The prison warden could see it. Pharaoh could see it. The prosperity was in the man long before it was in his hands.

How do we become this kind of person?

God refines us by training us in habits. These habits polish us into pure gold — into people whom abundance can trust. A godly person is one who acts like God every time because he or she has become like God in every way. And the way to become like God in every way is to make the effort to act like God every time.

So to become someone God leads to abundance, consistently practice living as that person. Over time, these habits will shape your way of life. Do not apply this teaching occasionally — commit fully and practice it diligently, allowing God to guide you through each step. Even Aristotle saw this much: we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is not an act, but a habit.

Five habits of the person God leads to abundance

Habit one: add value to others. “The hand of the diligent makes rich” (Proverbs 10:4). Whose hands? Joseph’s hands made Jacob rich, then Potiphar, then the prison warden, then Pharaoh. Everywhere you placed this man, wealth followed, because his hands enriched whoever they served. So stop asking, “What can I gain?” Start asking, “Whose life can I enrich?” Money chases those who enrich others.

Habit two: serve your way to influence. “The hand of the diligent shall bear rule” (Proverbs 12:24). Joseph and Daniel served, and service raised them into thrones. It is nice to be important, but it is more important to be nice — because nice people stay important. Power gained through self-service fades. Power gained through serving others lasts.

Habit three: do everything with excellence. “The substance of a diligent man is precious” (Proverbs 12:27) — rare, excellent, hard to find. Prosperous people do not do things well so they can be paid well. They are paid well because they do things well. Jesus did all things well — because that is who He was. Excellence was not His performance; it was His nature.

Habit four: delight in God, not in things. “The soul of the diligent shall be made fat” (Proverbs 13:4). This person’s satisfaction is in God, not gold. If you need things to feel rich, you will always be poor. If you have God, you will never be broke. Abundance does not make his soul fat; his fat soul attracts abundance.

Habit five: plan generously, not selfishly. We are back where we began: “the plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty” (Proverbs 21:5). But look at what this person plans for — not just for self, but for community, for kingdom, for others. God gives seed to the sower, not to the hoarder. If your plan blesses only you, it is too small for God to finance.

Abundance is waiting for who you are becoming

Who wants the winds of abundance to blow your way? Then commit yourself today to these five habits:

• Add value to others.
• Serve your way into significance.
• Do everything with excellence.
• Be satisfied in God, not in things.
• Plan with generosity in mind.

Abundance is not out there somewhere. Abundance is waiting for who you are becoming. It is not money that makes you wealthy — you have money because you are already wealthy.

So bring this to God honestly this week. Ask Him which of these marks and habits He wants to begin refining in you first, and then start practicing it — deliberately, repeatedly, in His strength. He refines gold slowly, but He refines it surely. Let Him make you the kind of person He can lead to plenty. And do not despise the small tests along the way — faithfulness with the thousand is how He prepares you for the ten thousand.