Riches

“Jesus looked at him and said, ‘How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!’” Luke 18:24
If you compare the wealth of the poorest New Zealander, they are still better off than the average person on the planet. We are all ‘rich’ in this sense. So this verse applies to us.
Why is it hard for rich people to enter the kingdom of God? Here are some suggestions. Someone who has riches, or wants them, begins to rely in them for their security. And so, riches and money becomes their god. Mammon was the god of riches in the Bible, and it is still alive and kicking today. Eccl. 5:10 tells us, “Whoever loves money never has money enough.” This was written by Solomon – the wealthiest person on the planet at the time, yet even he wasn’t satisfied.
For the last 7 years I have been sponsoring a child in Kenya. His name is Tom, he is 12 years old this year and the oldest of four brothers. His father is a pastor and his mother teaches a preschool. As such they don’t have any land to farm or animals, as most of the other members of their tribe do. They have to rely on God every day to provide food for them through the kindness of other people. I had the opportunity to visit them a couple of years ago as part of a group trip. It was a very humbling experience, to visibly see just how they have to trust in God for everything. Their faith is not just a Sunday thing as ours can be. “Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?” (James 2:5).