St Matthew, Chapter 19, verse: 26, The impossible is possible.

Our paragraph topic is:  (The danger of riches) Part 5.  

Christ had spoken to his disciples about riches and how they can make if difficult to enter into the kingdom of heaven.  He gave them a simple example so that they would have an understanding.  He told them that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven.  With what difficulty one would have trying to get a camel through the eye of a needle, one would also have even more difficulty getting a rich man into the kingdom of heaven.

This was a concept that was foreign to them and even to us today it seems extreme.  Our imagination would tell us that you would have to shrink a camel to less than the size of the eye of the needle to get it through.  In the same sense one would have to reduce the rich man down to nothing to get him into the kingdom of heaven.  Yet Christ wanted them to not think with the minds of men but to understand the power and majesty of the Father.   And looking upon them, Jesus said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." 

Christ gazed upon his disciples and saw that they did not understand his words.  He wanted them to understand the true nature of the possession of riches.  He wanted them to know the dangers of having riches and where they could lead.  Having riches and possessing riches is like a fever.  One wants to keep them.  One wants to hold onto them.  On wants to not loose them for fear.  And yet death is the ultimate divider.  For one cannot take riches after death.  One cannot posses riches after death.  For we are all children of God and in heaven there is no place for pride.

Our Father created us.  He gave us life.  He provided us with a place to live to grow, prosper, and to multiply.  He gave us this realm, the physical.  He gave us the intelligence to use the physical to produce the things that would allow us to live and prosper.  All these things he gave us freely that we may know his goodness and his mercy.  After we had rejected him and turned towards the world he still forgave us.  His love for mankind is so great that he allowed his only son to come and live among us that we may know him.  And he gave his only son that he would come and sacrifice himself to redeem us to give us new life.

With this new life we now are able to enter into the kingdom.  Before Christ came to redeem us, no one could enter into the kingdom.  All had to wait until the sacrifice was completed.  Christ  released all those who were in waiting.  He was the first.  And he is the last.  All things are given to us in his name.  The riches of this world will stop us.  They will hinder us.  They will hold us back from entering into the kingdom.  Possession of riches is not the danger but the riches of possession is.  Remember, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you.  Open the door and let him in.   

St Matthew, Chapter 19, verse: 24, Difficulty for a rich man entering into the Kingdomof heaven.

Our paragraph topic is:  (The danger of riches) Part 2. 

With difficulty will a rich man enter into the kingdom of heaven is what Christ told his disciples.  He spoke words of wisdom to them.  He spoke words of knowledge.  He spoke words above and beyond their comprehension.  But he wanted them to understand the truths of the kingdom of heaven.  He wanted them to know the rules and the mysteries of that place which we all ascribe to attain.  For he lives in heaven and it is the place where we want to be with him.

Yet he spoke these words to the rich young man as he left upon hearing the words of truth.  The young man wanted to know what he had to do to enter the kingdom of heaven.  He had a desire to be with Christ for all eternity.  And in order to achieve this goal he had to rid himself of all that would hold him back.  He had to rid himself of all those earthly possessions that he had acquired, those things that had a hold on him.  For as Christ told his disciples:  "And further I say to you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven." 

And this was the wisdom of the kingdom of heaven that Christ wanted his disciples to know.  He presented to them an impossible example to help them understand the difficulty with which a rich man will have entering the kingdom of heaven.  One can only imagine a large, hump back camel attempting to pass through a small sowing needle.  To our way of thinking this would seem impossible.  For a needle as we know it today is very, very small.  And a camel is very, very large.  The two do not seem to compare at all.  How would this be imaginable in anyone's mind?  But this was the example that Christ gave to his disciples to ponder, to understand.

This was the example that he gave to show how difficult it is for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven.  Riches demand holding onto.  Riches demand that they are kept.  Riches demand that they are protected, provided for, adored, glorified, and guarded least they are stolen.  They are not easily come by.  They require hard work and sacrifice.  They often times demand that we forgo our morals to acquire them.  And yet we can not take them with us.  We can hide them.  We can lock them up so that no one else may have them.  Or we can pass them on, so that others may possess them as we have.  But they can not be taken into the kingdom of heaven.

And this is the example that Christ wanted his disciples to understand.  The impossibility of a camel entering the eye of a needle is compared to a rich man entering the kingdom of heaven.  The two do not compute.  A camel would have to be reduced to the size of a pin head or the size of thread to be able to pass through the eye of a needle.  And likewise, a rich man would have to reduced to the size of a pauper to enter into the kingdom of heaven.  You see, what have we of earthly riches?  What have we of paper value, glass rocks that we value as precious or gold colored rocks or silver?  These things have no value in the kingdom.  They are already plentiful and in abundance, available to all.  Possessions of these things imparts no special significance.  They give no power, no prestige, no glory, no honor, no status in heaven.  For the gold in heaven is God's love and it is available to all.

We are children of God our Father.  His love is what fills us, what completes us.  His love makes us whole; without it we are empty.  Christ came to give us this message: our Father loves us.  Our Father loves us so much that he forgave us our sins and sent his only son to atone.  And with that atonement he gave us new life.  Our sins killed us.  Our sins destroyed the life that we had from the beginning.  And even today our sins take away the life that is freely given.  We have only to ask to receive it back.  We have only to seek to find again.  We have only to knock and the door will be opened to us to regain that life that we lost. 

The world does not want us to have that life.  The world does not want us to know.  The world wants us to forget and to continue to live in sin.  For those who want, the opportunity is theirs for the taking.  For those who seek the treasure is there for the finding.  And for those who want the love of the Father, his arms are open wide for you to receive his love only for the asking.  You will know the truth if you seek it.  You will see the life if you knock.  Your heart will know the peace when you open it to the love of the Father.  Come!  Receive the life that is yours for the asking.

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you.  Open the door and let him in.