The Eye of the Needle

This is the home I lived in as a child.

No one would have accused our family of living in extravagance in our little parsonage on Porter Street. In fact, I would have found it quite amusing to have been labeled as wealthy. But I was. I am. So are you.

Jesus had concerns about rich people. If you're anything like me, you've probably breathed an inward sigh of relief that you were not among the unfortunate few who found themselves the possessors of great amounts of wealth. The ones Jesus said would have a very hard time figuring out what His Kingdom was all about. Turns out, we are.

This has been a recurrent theme in my questioning mind in recent days and months. I read a book recently that posed the question of what the biblical mindset was: to use God-given wealth to make myself and my family comfortable, or to give everything away and live as a pauper in hopes of escaping the fate of trying to fit through that tiny eye of the needle Jesus spoke of. I came away with no sure answer. But I think I grasp a little better what Jesus may have been trying to say.

The Bible is clear that God is the giver of all that we own. The way He has created this world rewards faithfulness and provides in result of wise decisions. No one can say that money is evil. The Bible certainly doesn't say that. Some of the most godly and wise followers of God were wealthy beyond imagination. Think of King David and his son Solomon.

What the Bible warns against is the love of money. Love that supercedes our love for God. Love that says I'd rather have my things than be in the center of His will. Love that wouldn't be willing to give it all up if it kept me from getting through that needle's eye. Love that looks at the face of poverty and desperation and says that there is nothing I can do to help.

Of course, we have all heard the explanation of what Jesus was probably saying as he spoke those words. There was a very small opening into Jerusalem, one that was referred to as the "eye of the needle." It was not impossible to enter. But it was hard. It meant bending down. It meant getting off your camel and making yourself smaller in order to get through to the city. If you were already small, it was not as difficult.

If a person already has a correct view of themselves, seeing themself as small, as unworthy in the shadow of a mighty Creator, it's easier to see what God is all about. If we have an inflated projection of our own worth due to our comfortable circumstances, we require humbling to get into His presence.

So the question today is not whether you or I are rich. We are. If you live more to be comfortable than to survive, you have far surpassed the status of the humble. The question is also not really "Will you give up everything to prove your humility?" The question that Christ poses to you in light of this knowledge is simply this...

How much are you willing to give back to Me should I ask it of you?