Prayer
Briefly prepare your heart in silence, and ask the Holy Spirit to awaken your sense of anticipation that God is about to speak to you through His Word. Then, before you read, I invite you to pray this simple prayer:
Holy Spirit, open my eyes to see, my ears to hear,
and my mind to understand the truth of Your Word;
and give me the grace to accept it,
to surrender to it
and to apply it in my life today. Amen.
Reading
Why would Jesus teach that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God? Why exactly is it so difficult for someone with financial and material wealth to enter into Kingdom life?
The Kingdom of God is entered by faith in the life, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The life of the Kingdom is lived out as a lifestyle of dynamic trust that leads to active obedience to the teaching of Jesus and to the moment-by-moment direction and inspiration of His Holy Spirit. To live this life requires absolute trust in Jesus, and an ongoing decision that one’s highest priority in life is to please Jesus.
Wealth is an obstacle to this kind of Kingdom Living because wealth is just such an easy idol in which to trust. Wealth allows one to create such a comfortable and “secure” lifestyle that it becomes incredibly difficult to let go of it once one has it. So, when the demands of Jesus require one to experience some sort of hardship, or to use one’s material wealth to alleviate the suffering of others at one’s own expense, or to pursue a course of principled action that will lead to some kind of financial loss, it can feel impossible to trust and obey Jesus. It is much easier to trust wealth, and to follow the course of action required to make (or keep) wealth. In fact, at times, this can be as difficult as getting a camel through the eye of a needle!
All things are possible with God, however, and history proves that there are those who are willing to use their material wealth to serve Christ and His Kingdom selflessly. But these dramatic words of Jesus warn us to guard our hearts against the lure of the love of money. It is a deadly enemy of the spiritual life.
Contemplation
Please take time to ponder what Jesus has commanded us. Turn one or more of these declarations over and over in your mind. Keep them in mind throughout the day and live in step with Your King, Jesus.
As a disciple of Jesus Christ:
- I will pray for the grace to trust Him in all things.
- I will resist the love of money and the lure of trusting in wealth.
- I will use my material possessions to serve Him as my King, regardless of the cost.
Lord Jesus, please forgive me for the times I have trusted in wealth or possessions rather than in You. Please give me the grace to trust and obey You in all things. Amen.
Dave's Diary 
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