There are a ton of Bible verses that I struggle with.

There are also some that I thought I had down pat.  (Yea, maybe a little over confident.)  One of those is:

Matthew  19:23-24
²³Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. ²⁴Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

How many times have I heard this bible verse?, and I was a total lock on it’s meaning.  I knew it was all about the money.  I would hear it and think about it really feel good about my “knowledge and understanding of the Bible”.

Shazam – God throws in a curve ball

That brings us to the now.  I was on a weekend getaway this weekend with my family.  We went to a hotel/waterpark, the kids had an early out so we got an early start.  After we had left, arrived at the hotel and had dinner – we were headed back up to the room around 7 or 8 and we saw some other people from the town we were from come in.

They looked very tired, upset and not in a “happy place”.  Since the time we arrived and the time they had traveled – we experienced a good old Iowa snow storm.  It was 3 hours and 3 inches of snow.  You could tell they were having a rough time and I’m sure the weather didn’t help = maybe a missed turn thrown in to.

I was very empathetic about the situation – my wife and I had been there before.  This is one of those moments that happen, you don’t like it and you hope you can apologize and then move on.  But this image stayed with me for than night and then the next day.  I was struggling with it – then, on the way to Happy Joe’s in Dubuque Iowa…it came to me.

I don’t think the Bible passage is speaking about kicking rich people out of heaven.  I don’t think God gives a rip about how much money any one of us has.  I kept getting the passage and then this couple’s little movie in my mind.

I think it really means that when you have an excess of money – you tend to “pay away” your problems.  Like if the fridge breaks, you go buy another.  If the car gets a scratch – you rent another and send this one to the body shop.  No problem.  No worries – a little inconvenient, yes…but not a life changer.

So – when it comes to getting real, I think it is harder for people with excess cash; because money tends to hide the real issue.  The bible passage is not about rich people having to give all their money away to “punch their ticket” to heaven.

I think it is more about it being real hard for people with an excess to share and understand – until they learn to be a resource for others.  When that happens – you share your wealth and everyone wins.

Conclusion

I don’t know – man, all this Bible stuff is complicated! 

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• Online Bible Reference Websites (protestantism.suite101.com)