The fear of the law of tithing (Part 3)
Verse of the day: Matthew 19: 23 "I tell you the truth, a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven"
The word of today is particularly aimed to the rich or those who aspire to wealth. Unlike some ancient teachings, Jesus never said that poverty is the condition to enter heaven. He has not said that the rich cannot enter the kingdom of heaven, but he just said (according to the verse of the day) that the rich hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
As I said before, the bible does not say that money is the root of all evil, but it is the love of money which is one (1 Tim 6: 10). In the first part of the teaching, Jesus said that we cannot serve two masters i.e. God and Mammon. In other words, one cannot serve God and money at the same time. According to the mind of Jesus, the one who loves money cannot love God completely. If you feel the love of money in you, I advise you to pray for deliverance for you are in a very bad position in regarding with the Lord. You can tell me that everyone loves money but my answer is No, because everyone does not love money but everyone needs money. There is a big difference between to love money and to need money. He who loves money will never be satisfied because he is totally dependent. In fact, he becomes a slave of money and can never please the Lord.
The verse of the day comes from Jesus' encounter with the rich young man who apparently lived a life of integrity and followed all the commandments but Jesus touched the most sensitive part of the rich, saying, “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"(Matthew 19: 21). The young man was very disappointed to hear such words and the next verse says: "After hearing these words, the young man went away sad; for he had great possessions "(Matt 19: 22).
Here I have to say that Jesus is not against the rich but he is against greed. If you are rich, do not think that Jesus asks you to sell everything you have to distribute to the poor and follow him, but he does not want to see greed in you. Zacchaeus was rich and he was enriched by stealing the people's money, but after his conversion, Jesus did not ask him to sell all the property because he had been generous when he said, "Behold, Lord, I give to the poor half of my possessions, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I restore him fourfold "(Luke 19: 8). He who loves money could not take such a decision. Jesus finally said, "Today salvation has come to this house."
In the fourth part, we will see that it is not enough to confess biblical verses to become real.
Chris Ndikumana
