Slavery of Riches

(Written at age 13)

Mat 19:24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

Lately I've been thinking about the bad things about being wealthy, and the good things about having a more modest amount of wealth. So, I think I'll sit down, and share my thoughts.

I've seen, over my so far short life (or so I'm told :D), that the less you have the more you appreciate it when you receive more. If we decided that we were going to suddenly walk out and move to a lovely grand mansion, wouldn't that feel great? But if someday we had to move out of that mansion and into a house like the one we started with, wouldn't that feel horrible?

For an example, let's go back to the days of kings and queens. The peasants were poor as ever and heavily taxed by the nobility; but because of this, a lot of them appreciated pretty much any good thing you would do for them, whether it be giving them something to drink or letting them off paying their taxes. But when you go up to the nobility, what do you see? Complete fussiness, ingratitude, and no thanks for all the hard work the people under them do, often just to satisfy their wants. And what if suddenly one of these noblemen lost his wealth? He would find it very hard to come to terms with. On the other hand the peasants were so poor that they didn't really have any wealth to lose.

The richer you are, the harder it is when you lose wealth. And usually, the richer you are, the worse your character is (this is not always the case of course). This is why it was hard the rich young man to sell his possessions and follow Jesus...

Matt 19:21-22 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.

In many ways, not having great wealth makes you much more free than if you did. If you have great wealth, you have to worry about protecting it; and when you lose it or are faced with giving it up, it's all too hard. There are many benefits in not having lots of money, or possessions...