Material Wealth and Heaven

It was mentioned to me that most people want to be rich but feel guilty wanting to be rich, or fear to be wealthy. Most of the guilt and fear may be rooted in the following passage:

Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. - Matthew 19:23-24

I recently attended a seminar conducted by Bo Sanchez and this passage in the Bible was very well explained.

We must understand that this was said and written originally in Hebrew some 2000 years ago. Idioms, phrases and words change over time. When my mom was younger "cute" meant "small and bow-legged", now-a-days "cute" is synonymous to "pretty".

"The eye of a needle" is an idiom, an expression. In Hebrew some 2000 years ago "the eye of a needle" refers to the house of a camel, or a camel hole. A camel of course has always been used by travelers to carry heavy loads.

Consequently, in order for the camel to enter its home/hole it needs to unload its load and kneel. Unlike a horse, a camel sleeps on the ground with its knees bent.

Thus, for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God, he must first detach himself from his material possessions and kneel before God to thank God.

How do you detach yourself from your earthly riches?
Man always finds a way to spend money for himself, why not use the money to help others. Divide your income like so:
10% go into tithes
20% invested
70% spend for yourself

And if you think 70% is too much, try investing it into something that will produce jobs; or you can increase your tithes.

Instead of having a car for each day of the week, why not have two cars and five scholars? After all, a scholar would forever be thankful to you, while a car would forever ask for gas, oil, water, cleaning etc.

Think of other ways to thank the Lord for your abundance.

Remember, a parent will not reject his child. A rich man also belongs in the house of God.