I’ve done some embroidery. Nothing too elaborate, but just enough to know I’ll never be really good at it. With my eyesight it’s hard to thread the needle. I don’t know how my grandmother did it for so long.
There’s a passage in the bible that talks about how it’s harder for a rich man to get into heaven than for a camel to get through the eye of a needle. Since we all know even the smallest camel would never fit through the eye of the biggest needle (discounting Needles Highway), the meaning is clear: rich folks ain’t going.
Let’s dissect that for a bit before anyone thinks, “You’re telling me folks with too much money won’t get into heaven?” That’s not at all what it means.
Looking at how Jesus taught we have to keep in mind he’s talking about spirituality, not worldly wealth - though many times wealth will impact a person’s spirituality. A person who accumulates a pile of net worth often thinks that they’ve been smarter than poor people. “I’ve made better decisions than that guy living in a hovel six blocks away. I deserve what I have.” And that’s where they fall down.
If some very smart man was put into the situation of a poor person, would they really be able to pull themself up by the bootstraps and become wealthy? Perhaps. But they have to remember that God controls a person’s circumstances and gave that smart person their intelligence to start with. So to look down on someone because “I’ve made better decisions” is thinking of oneself as wealthy.
I’ve done that so many times it’s sickening. “I would never do that! What an idiot.” Though the movie Trading Places was a simplistic comedy, it still had a good message. Taking a rich person and putting him in the place of a poor person (and vice versa) dramatically changes how they look at things.
I have friends who don’t believe God even exists, much less think He’s all-powerful. They believe their decisions gave them the ability to work a good job and accumulate the wealth they enjoy. They don’t need God because they have their money. Their intellect. Their situation.
The truth is, if you take the average person and put them into the Salvation Army warming center in the middle of winter, take away their resources and friends, chances are they’ll end up just like the rest of them.
A poverty-stricken child in the inner city frequently has to choose between joining a gang or getting ruthlessly beaten or killed. Would any of us choose to risk death to avoid the gangs? Not many, and those who would were raised in such a way they can resist.
The bible teaches each and every life has the same value - the homeless beggar, the axe murderer, and even Adolf Hitler.
You’re not better or stronger than them. Just weak in different places.
