2012 A.D.: Loving your neighbor some and your stuff a lot......is it big trouble for your soul?
"How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God." Luke 18:24
"The one who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor will himself also call out and not be answered." Proverbs 21:13
Riches are seductive. We can see now that the One World Order is using greed.... our greed for stuff....as one means of bringing humankind into abject dependency. Credit card debt, home equity loans, easy purchase terms for stuff we don't actually need at all. There are many ways that the Lords of Commerce go about their plans. We fall prey to most of them quite easily and quite willingly.
We all only need so much, but we all seem to seek a whole lot more. A whole lot more material stuff, not spiritual stuff. Would we give up salvation knowingly and definitively in exchange for having more stuff in our remaining Earth years? No. Not if we knew that it was certain that we would go to Hell upon dying if we pursued stuff instead of a relationship with the Lord Jesus. Yet nearly every one of us - far too many, anyway - act like a little bit of time with Jesus is good, and a whole lot of time spent with our stuff is good...even better. It's the same choice. We are choosing stuff, for a short time on Earth, over salvation and a good relationship with Jesus that will last forever.
Something is going to last forever for each and every human soul on Earth. Is it going to be Heaven or Hell? We will certainly spend all of time in one place or the other.
It's as if we mentally know, but the reality hasn't sunken into our heart, and into our bones. We've heard the warnings, we understand the meaning of the warnings, yet they have inspired no fear in us. We've never stood near to the stinking smoking doorway that leads down into Hell. We've never actually listened to the screams of millions who, like ourselves, lived as if it was somehow all just an idle threat, not a choice whose consequences we would one day face for eternity.
We 'need' food and water. We sometimes need clothing and shelter, or we would die. We have very few other material 'needs'.
So, to have vast amounts of wealth in your possession, or even excess wealth in your possession, while others - our neighbor, our fellow humans made by God - die for lack of necessities, is probably choosing to dwell in Hell, right? Or let's put it this way: If you are selfish with your resources concerning your needy neighbor, while your eyes and ears observe that these other people, whom God loves as much as you, are suffering for lack of the necessities, will that TEND to suggest we might more readily be received into Heaven, or TEND to suggest we will more likely be sent to Hell one day? We all know, don't we, that if it pushes us towards one door or the other, it will push us towards the door to Hell. And Jesus spent a good deal of time talking about how hard it would be for the rich to enter Heaven.
Yet, how many of us go ahead and take that risk - the calculated risk of seeking excess material wealth and possessions in exchange for the increased risk of losing our soul - in order to have more fun good stuff, while enduring less suffering or lack or deprivation on behalf of our Lord Christ, who died for us - for these unknown few additional numbers of years that we will be on this fallen old Earth? We give Jesus SOME attention, just to keep our foot in the door as far as going to Heaven goes. But what we really concentrate on is STUFF!!
Well, you can be poor and still be evil, but you can be poor and be approved by Jesus. As for being rich, however........as for being rich.... you nearly cannot, in the New Covenant, be approved by Jesus while being rich. Jesus plainly spoke about the risks you take if you allow yourself to become rich and stay rich: you have less chance of getting to Heaven than a camel does of passing through the eye of a needle. Those are Jesus' sentiments towards humans that seek Earthly riches. That is Jesus' knowledge of how good the chances are for a rich man seeking salvation. NOT GOOD AT ALL! You have chosen a path that holds very little prospect of allowing your soul to be saved, according to Jesus' own words, and Jesus will be our Judge on Judgement Day, as will be our deeds and our words and our innermost thoughts.
So, if we think about that, really taking it to heart, do we still want to have excess stuff, excess riches? Are we really and truly willing to give our soul for it? I think almost 100% of Christians would say 'No! I will not give up my soul for a few items of stuff, for a few more decimal places in my savings account balance. I will not disregard my salvation for a few dumb things that will soon be rendered meaningless!'
But, while many agree with the words, few of us will step away from the death trap of wealth and the seeking of wealth. It is possible that greed alone will account for the most willfully self-condemned souls of all. We all had better take that to heart! It's a deadly serious matter.
He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep in exchange for what he cannot lose!!