Riches

Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother. And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. Mark 10: 19-21 KJV

 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.  And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up. Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.  Luke 19:20-22 KJV

When we read the previous verses, the man ran to see Jesus and kneeled down to ask this one important question  "what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?"  Jesus starts with the 10 Commandments where the man says he has kept all of them since his youth.  Well, that would disqualify me as I broke all the 10 Commandments since my youth.  Thank goodness for Grace.  

But Jesus continues after the man says he has kept all the commandments.  Sell everything you own and give it to the poor.  I can hear the man saying to himself something like oh crude or oh crap, really I have to sell everything.  It is funny because I have broken the commandments but I have sold or given everything I own three times in my life including when I was married with very young kids.  Three times started over and I picked up the cross each time.  It is not easy,

I would love to call out prosperity preachers and challenge them to sell their million dollar homes, jets, fancy cars, etc...  But we all know they would not just like the man in the story.  Wealth has a certain way of corrupting societies.  Look at the United States today, wealth has replaced God in the Church.  Many Christians need government to survive not God.  And I am not talking about welfare but Social Security.  Satan's big lie is the government is better at taking care of you than God.  Go ahead and retire, Government will be your provider.  You just stay home in your comfy chair, watch some TV, and go to Church on Sunday.  Yeah, volunteer when you can after all you are retired.  Dont worry about your health care, Government has your back.  Oh the ease to which we fall into the trap.  I could go om and on but you get the point.  When God stops being the provider is why it is difficult to enter Heaven.  When you trust your riches or Government, that is when you can lose God.