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How To Be Rich

We spend the bulk of our lives working and trying to get ahead, chasing the almighty dollar.  I'm as guilty of it as anyone because I'll try to work late, go in early, skip lunches, or do side jobs to make money if possible.  But typically I notice that no matter how much money I have, there are always more places for it to go...besides in my pocket. 

In Matthew 19:16-26 Jesus talks with a rich young man.  This man wanted to know what it would take to obtain eternal life and be "good"?  Jesus named off several of the commandments and the young man replied that he had followed all those rules and wanted to know what he still lacked.  Then it got real for the young man, Jesus went where we don't like anyone going with us, after our pocketbooks.  Verse 21 says "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.  Then come, follow me".  That did it for the young man, he could not give up all his riches, the fancy house, nice clothes, new iPhone, and other possessions. 

Jesus really drives his point home when he says "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven."  Whoa!  When I read that it made me WANT to be poor!  Why do we spend so much time away from our families, neglecting our health, lying, cheating, and scheming to get ahead when all being rich in the world does is make it harder for us to get to heaven?  Think about that for a minute.  Do you really want the new car that'll only last a few years?  Or the new house that the roof will eventually leak?  Or the investment account that you stress over going down? 

My dad has often used the phrase "It won't matter in a hundred years" and how true that is.  I highly doubt that I live to be 131.  So what will matter in 100 years?  My faith, to get me to Heaven; how I treated my family, to be an example of a Christian life, and what I taught my son, to turn to Jesus Christ for salvation.  No one will remember my car, my house, or my bank account, or the other stuff I owned. 

I started to title this How To Get Rich,  but I realized that getting rich is easy.  All we have to do is repent, confess that God is Lord, and accept the Holy Sprit into our hearts.  Once we've done that, we then stand to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven and that'll make anybody feel rich no matter how much money you have!

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