Today’s Reading: 1 Chronicles 16; Psalm 106; Matthew 19
Scripture: Matthew 19:16 Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?"
17 "Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments."
18 "Which ones?" the man inquired.
Jesus replied, " 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother,' and 'love your neighbor as yourself.'"
20 "All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?"
21 Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, "Who then can be saved?"
26 Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
Observation: "I want to be rich!" If you are a believer and you say these words to another Christian, you are likely to raise eyebrows. A desire to be wealthy is guaranteed to arouse suspicion among Christians. But I believe that God is definitely in favor of rich Christians. He wants more of His committed and dedicated followers to have greater resource so they can be conduits of blessing to this world. However this story does show one of the pitfalls of great wealth. Here is a young man with a desire to follow God and he comes to Jesus to find out how to take his life to a higher spiritual level. Jesus points out that there is an idol in the man's life -- it is his wealth. The man put his money ahead of God. He didn't own his money -- his money owned him. And this fact meant that he could not be owned by God and he couldn't serve God fully. When given the challenge to choose God and let go of his money idol, the man "went away sad." He was deeply conflicted but his money won. Jesus says, "it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven... it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
Now you may have heard a story about a gate in the wall of Jerusalem called "the eye of a needle" that a camel could only get through by being emptied of its baggage and stooping on its knees. This has been widely taught but unfortunately, no such gate exists -- it is an urban myth. Click here for more information about this story.
The fact that the disciples object with amazed incredulity shows that they understood the impossibility of Jesus' hyperbole. Jesus was talking about a real camel and a real needle. [Actually it is possible for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. Of course, the camel has to go through the blender first. Ouch! That's not a pretty thought! Sorry :-)]
So the point is that a rich person can't be saved without God's intervention. But isn't that also true about a poor person, or any other person for that matter.
Application: All of us have the same problem: pride. That is, a person's individual right of self-determination. (In America, we have enshrined this prerogative as a cherished value.) Whether rich or poor, we all have to give up that right to come to God. And this is not just a one-time thing. No, we have to keep giving up and keep coming to God. Jesus tells us this. "If any man would follow me he must take up his cross daily and follow me." What or who owns you? It is either God or something else. Give yourself fully to God.
Prayer: Lord, help us to surrender all and follow You. Whether we have great riches or no riches, it is our pride that ultimately will keep us from You. Help us to see pride's destructive power and let it die so that we may live fully and unhindered in You.
This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
1 comment:
For many years after becoming a Christian I held the belief that a person couldn't be very wealthy and also very spiritual. In fact, I felt spiritually superior to rich people and even had a slight contempt for them (which I didn't recognize until much later in my life). This attitude came not only from reading certain passages of scripture like the one today but also from being raised by a man whose wealth was his God and whose character was completely self-serving. That paradigm caused me to miss the fact that God often blessed his servants with great riches. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Job, Solomon and many others were quite wealthy. Jesus himself was supported by rich women. He also had the advantage of being able to get money whenever he wanted it -- like out of the mouths of fish! He wasn't poor. Yet somehow, so many Christians like me have been taught to think that material success negated spiritual success and maturity. We're often suspicious and condescending toward the wealthy. In the last few years I've met many rich people who are also rich toward God (in fact some of them were more spiritually mature than I) and I've had to change my thinking. I've been one of those misguided Christians that Carl mentioned. Thank God that He teaches us and changes our prejudices if we remain open to Him.
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