Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is very hard for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. I’ll say it again-it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!”
Matthew 19:24Matthew 19:24
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
24 In fact, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to get into God's kingdom.”
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You’ve probably heard this whole “camel through the eye of a needle thing” before. And perhaps you’ve dismissed it as something you’ll never have to deal with since you’re not a rich man. Well, what exactly is rich in this context anyway? Is it someone who has a lot of money in their multiple bank accounts? Maybe it is someone with a summer house and a winter house. Perhaps it is an individual with a country club membership, three or more bays in their garage, a boat, designer clothing, and a “better than anyone else” attitude to compliment their assets? Someone who travels to exotic locations, maybe that’s part of being a rich man or woman. What exactly is Jesus talking about when He tells His disciples that a camel has a better chance of squeezing through the eye of a tiny needle than a rich man entering God’s Kingdom?
Consider this: What if the definition of a rich person in this context is “anyone who is more preoccupied with using their resources to serve their own desires and pleasures than loving God and their neighbors sacrificially?” Now that definition might just open up a whole new can of worms when it comes to who fits in that category. Yeah, we’d all need steel-toed boots to keep our toes from being stepped on with that definition!
The amount of wealth it takes to make one rich is immaterial. It is the attitude and heart behind the resources. That is what Jesus is trying to convey here. He is saying, “Having a lot of resources is dangerous, because humanity has a tendency to selfishly hoard things for themselves.”
We must be careful to recognize the Source of all we have and not buy into the lie that whatever we possess we attained of our own achievement. Every single thing we own, every thing tangible and intangible, is on loan to us from God. We have done nothing, absolutely nothing, independent of Him to acquire it, whatever it is. There is no such thing as a “self-made man” or a “self-made woman.” All of us are God-made!!
There is a prevailing ideology that wealth is earned rather than bestowed, and believing that turns our hearts away from the True Benefactor and to ourselves. Without even realizing it, each of us has the capacity to make little gods of our possessions, and even ourselves, if we fail to worship Almighty God as the creator and giver of all things, and to use whatever He chooses to give us for His glory and not our own. It comes down to a matter of who or what you’re serving.
No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Matthew 6:24Matthew 6:24
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
Money 24 You cannot be the slave of two masters! You will like one more than the other or be more loyal to one than the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
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People who possess a modicum of wealth (and that would be everyone reading this today) must be vigilant in honoring God with their possessions. They must give regularly to the work of God’s Kingdom through tithes and offerings and donations of various sorts and even their personal time. Doing this acknowledges God as the Source of all, and helps keep us and “our stuff” in its rightful place. We should treat possessions in such a way that they serve God’s purposes, rather than finding us serving them.
Is it impossible for “wealthy” people such as ourselves to enter God’s Kingdom? No. But, it takes wisdom and will-power to keep things in the right perspective, lest we make that ol’ desert dweller start trying to “thread the needle!”
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