“And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” (Matt. 19:24)
The context of that part of the Scriptures is wealth, the accumulation of money, the items of the world that one can purchase with it, and perhaps even the bondage that wealth places a person in. Vows of poverty do not draw the soul closer to God, they are a form of works, based in self-depreciation, not Christ-centeredness. But I ask you this today, how much money makes you rich? How much do you need to have before you will hardly be able to enter into the Kingdom of heaven?
The question is both relative and subjective, relative because there are other people on this planet, and subjective to what you believe rich means? “But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.” (Matt. 19:22) Relative to who? Those who had less than that young man of course, subjective because of how he looked at his wealth, his attitude towards those things of the world.
What of Joseph of Arimathea, who begged the body of our Lord and had Him placed in his own sepulcher, was he not also wealthy, was it necessary for him to sell all he owned and live out on the street to be pleasing in the eyes of the Lord?
Nowhere in the Scriptures are we told that money or the accumulation of the items of the world that it can purchase is a sin, the love of those things are.
The rich young man looked at those things differently than Abraham did, and Abraham’s possessions probably made that young man look as if he was poor, relatively.
“But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.” (Matt. 23:11) Not the poorest, but the servant of all.
Since Jesus was the leader of the band of twelve, the disciples, who then owned the bag of money that Judas Iscariot carried, Judas or Christ? How much money makes you rich?
Contemplate this, who can be the greater servant, the one who abides in Christ but barely has enough to eat each day, or the one who has great wealth, who also is hid in Christ, but uses that wealth to feed thousands each day? Relative and subjective. Ananias and Sapphira were made examples of, but those who followed after them did not sell all or part of what they owned because they feared the Lord would kill them also, but because of their love for the Savior.
Satan has twisted these precepts of the Word of God as he always does, hate the rich and enable the poor, leaving completely out of the equation the love of money and treating the sluggard with the bounty that they have not only not earned, but will waste upon themselves. The amount of money you have does not make you rich my friends, it is how your heart views it, how much love you give to it and those possessions you have accumulated with it.
It is not evil to be rich, but it can draw you away from the One who has blessed you with those riches, and place you in bondage to them.
Giving more if you have much does not put in you favor with God, unless it is done with the proper attitude of the heart. “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.” (2nd Cor. 9:7)