What other scriptures emphasize the difficulty of choosing God over earthly riches? Opening Snapshot: The Rich Young Man’s Dilemma Matthew 19:22 shows a sincere seeker walking away “grieved, because he had great wealth.” The tug-of-war between earthly treasure and wholehearted surrender to Christ did not start or end with him. Scripture keeps circling back to the same warning: riches can make following God painfully hard. Jesus’ Own Words on the Struggle • Matthew 6:19-21, 24 — “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth… For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also… You cannot serve both God and money.” • Mark 10:23-25 — After the rich young ruler departs, Jesus looks around and sighs, “How hard it is for the wealthy to enter the kingdom of God… It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” • Luke 12:15, 19-21 — “Beware and guard against every form of greed… ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you.’ So is he who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich toward God.” • Luke 16:13 — “No servant can serve two masters… You cannot serve both God and money.” • Luke 16:19-31 — The rich man who ignored Lazarus finds himself in torment, discovering too late that luxury had blinded him to eternal need. Voices from the Wisdom Books • Proverbs 11:28 — “He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf.” • Proverbs 30:8-9 — “Give me neither poverty nor riches… otherwise, I may have too much and deny You.” • Psalm 49:6-7, 16-17 — “Those who trust in their wealth… none of them can redeem his brother… Do not be afraid when a man grows rich… when he dies he will carry nothing away.” • Ecclesiastes 5:10 — “He who loves money is never satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income.” The Prophets and Apocalypse Join In • Jeremiah 9:23 — “Let not the wise boast in his wisdom nor the mighty in his strength nor the rich in his riches.” • Ezekiel 7:19 — “They will throw their silver into the streets… their gold will not deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD.” • Revelation 3:17-18 — The church at Laodicea hears, “You say, ‘I am rich’… yet you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined by fire.” Letters to the Early Church • 1 Timothy 6:9-10 — “Those who want to be rich fall into temptation and a trap… For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” • 1 Timothy 6:17-19 — “Command those who are rich in this present age not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth… but to be rich in good works… storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future.” • James 2:5-7 — God has “chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith,” yet the rich often oppress and blaspheme His name. • James 5:1-3 — “Come now, you rich, weep and wail… Your riches have rotted… You have hoarded treasure in the last days.” A Better Treasure Across these passages the pattern is unmistakable: wealth promises security but often delivers spiritual anemia. Christ invites us to something infinitely better—“treasure in heaven” (Matthew 19:21). When our grip loosens on possessions, our hands are finally free to cling to Him. |
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