Is it fun to be rich?

It is interesting to know that Jesus wants wealthy people to come into his Kingdom. In today’s English we would say that he even wants the people who are ‘filthy rich’. There is even a story in the bible about a man who was incredibly wealthy and Jesus wanted to invite him into his Kingdom.
However, God doesn’t need a person’s money but needs a person’s heart. His love affair with humanity means that above all he values being first in our lives and therefore he looks to the things which come before him in our lives. Money and wealth have a habit of puffing up a human being and therefore excluding God from our everyday lives.

Am I rich compared to any one else in the world? How can the learnings of the rich young ruler apply to me?

Jesus understood the struggle for rich people. His heart as usual went to understanding how difficult it is for a human to give up being self sufficient and surrender everything to God.

Mark 10 : 23 – 25 Jesus looked around at his disciples and said to them, "How hard it will be for rich people to enter the Kingdom of God!" The disciples were shocked at these words, but Jesus went on to say, "My children, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God! It is much harder for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle."

I find that it is more likely to be my own self that will separate me from God than anything else. So becoming a ‘self made man or woman’ will by definition exclude God from vast areas of your life. God wants to be involved in everything that we do and sometimes our wealth can get in the way particularly if we look to it as our security and sustenance and not towards God.

How much of a self made man or women am I? How easy is it for me to take credit for the success and cry to God when things go wrong?

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