Am I rich?

Lately it seems that some verses from the Bible are really starting to make me think. Really make me think. And kind of freak me out at the same time. Not in a panic, scream, and run around with my arms flailing kind of freak me out, but more of a "oh boy, I'd better pay attention and do what it says" kind of freak me out.

The first is "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", and the second being, "Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."

Can you see why there would be some cause for concern?

Take for instance the rich statement. Am I rich? I guess it depends on who I am compared to. If I am compared to any of my favourite players on the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team, then no, definitely not. If I am compared to any major Hollywood actor, then the answer is still no. If I compare myself to those living in poverty within my community, well now you can start building a case to say yes. Compare me, as well as just about anyone else in North America, against most of the people within the world, and I can definitely be considered rich. And that makes the first quote from scripture relevant, which means I should pay attention. Am I rich? In God's eyes - likely.

My initial reaction was to question whether or not I should have some of the possessions that I have... such as my house. Does God want me to have the house I'm currently living in? I'm still not sure, to be honest. The only reason I could think of why he would want me to have my house is because the house will go up in value over time, making the house a worthy investment, which would be better than sticking my money in a hole someplace where it will lose value. Not a strong case, but its still something.

Another point of view that I have on this matter is how I view money. Take for instance the money that I receive after putting time in at my place of employment. If I call that money "my money", or "money that I have earned", then it is considered my possession, which would make me rich. If, on the other hand, I consider this money to be money that God has trusted in me, then to me that is a different story.

Here's an analogy of how I believe God would want me to view money. Let's say I manage a bank. Let's also say that God has opened up an account with my bank. From time to time, God deposits money into His account at the bank that I manage. Let's also say that God has allowed me to control the finances to His account. So now when He has deposited the money, I am free to move the money around to wherever I see fit. Now, if I keep spending that money for my own purposes, then that would be considered stealing - an act worthy of God not contributing funds to the account.

If, however, I spend His money wisely and for His purposes (on items he would approve of), then there is the possibility he would invest even more finances into the account, because He can trust me with His finances.

This would imply that from time to time, God would call me up to let me know that He wants to spend His money on a special cause, in which case, I'd better do so, for risk of losing His account.

Under this scenario, I can no longer make any claims in what money I own, because it would all be God's. Does that make me rich?

I say no - just blessed to be able to make the decisions with someone else's money.

What do you think?

(On the next posting I'll talk more about the second verse that I quoted).