A passage in the Bible mentions Jesus inviting a young man to a more heroic type of existence, cutting loose from his wealth and living a life devoted to the Kingdom of God. Apparently, that invitation was a chance for the young man to live an abundant life, one that was not defined by material wealth. The young man might have stood before kings and crowds, and ranked with Peter, John, and Paul as a household name. However, the young man did not rise up to Jesus’ offer to him. What could have held this young ruler back from accepting Jesus’ offer of a truly good life? Jesus himself pointed out that the young man’s demeanor was caused by his great wealth (Luke 18:18-25 NRSV).
If this particular man in the story were poor, he would have had less to leave and might have even taken Jesus on cheerfully. Recalling the story of the young ruler, Jesus quipped that it was exceedingly harder for a rich man to enter the Kingdom, where men live for justice, brotherliness, and optimism.
By that statement, Jesus does not mean that if one is rich, then one would not enter the Kingdom of heaven. Inferentially, Jesus is speaking about the status of one’s heart. He means that when one’s affections are set on money and material wealth, then one would have difficulty surrendering to God. On a similar note, it will be hard for you to do the work of advancing God’s Kingdom if you are more concerned about your riches than you are about Jesus. Take this simple example: A lot of people still have a hard time tithing because they cannot separate themselves from the tithe. They cannot surrender it to God, because in their hearts, the money is actually more precious to them than Jesus.
Needless to say, Jesus has extended this offer to you. Maybe God has been tugging at your heart to surrender something to Him and in exchange for this act of faith is a chance to live a heroic life. However, in the back of your mind, you are thinking about how you can pay the mortgage payments for the car and house you have come to love so much, or you are thinking about that corner office, or about those out-of-the-country vacation tours and the latest gadgets and luxuries. Then you tGoing back to the tale involving you, you decide you cannot and you reject Christ’s offer, just like the rich ruler did. You are not very rich, but you are saddened that you cannot meet Jesus because of the material wealth you are holding on to, or maybe you cannot follow Jesus because of the dreams you cannot let go of.
It is not evil to be rich or to have material wealth. What makes being rich or having material wealth bad is when it drives a person to be corrupt, hence hindering them from serving and helping others. When this happens, they become disillusioned. Eventually, they begin to disregard what is important in the Kingdom of God, not realizing that at the end of the day, what matters in light of eternity is only true foundation we can rely on in life and that all the rest is just scaffolding.
Not only does the Book of the Month Club provide a pathway to knowledge, wisdom and insight, it also sets you up to be in attendance at the Spring Session of Prophecology 2018: Birthing House: The Latter Rain, February 23-25, 2018.
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Is wealth being a hindrance for you to serve the Lord and to advance His Kingdom?