When Prosperity Becomes A Problem

So many people today are sadly attached to and entangled by the wrong things. Rather than establishing good character, integrity, and a love for God as key features of a great relationship, popular culture is glorifying big houses, banging bodies, and dollar bills as essential to success in life. And if we are not careful, this emphasis on that which is surface, transient and superficial can lead us into financial bondage and can distance us in our relationship with God. Materialism and financial entanglements are the kind of thing that can literally sneak upon you, and before you know it, you can find yourself overwhelmed by stress, drowning in debt, and struggling just to survive. Do you realize that you can actually love money so much that it can override your relationship with God? Do you know that you can be so enmeshed with the material things of the world that it can cause you to compromise your morals and your convictions? That’s precisely what happened in today’s key text. The wealthy man talking to Jesus was so preoccupied with pursuing a career, so bent on making and maintaining money, and so obsessed with amassing wealth, that it became a spiritual problem. And so, the question becomes, how do we keep from becoming victims of the money trap? How do we reach a point in our lives where prosperity doesn’t become a problem?