Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God. Matthew 19:24
“We must, therefore, not be surprised if we find among the Christians some people who are still nasty. There is even,
when you come to think it over, a reason why nasty people might be expected to turn to Christ in greater numbers than nice ones. That was what people objected to about Christ during His life on earth: He seemed to attract ‘such awful people’. That is what people still object to and always will. Do you not see why? Christ said ‘Blessed are the poor’ and ‘How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom,’ and no doubt He primarily meant the economically rich and economically poor. But do not His words also apply to another kind of riches and poverty?
One of the dangers of having a lot of money is that you may be quite satisfied with the kinds of happiness money can give and so fail to realize your need for God. If everything seems to come simply by signing cheques, you may forget that you are at every moment totally dependent on God. Now quite plainly, natural gifts carry with them a similar danger. If you have sound nerves and intelligence and health and popularity and a good upbringing, you are likely to be quite satisfied with your character as it is. ‘Why drag God into it?’ you may ask. A certain level of good conduct comes fairly easily to you. You are not one of those wretched creatures who are always being tripped up by sex, or dipsomania, or nervousness, or bad temper.
Everyone says you are a nice chap and (between ourselves) you agree with them. You are quite likely to believe that all this niceness is your own doing: and you may easily not feel the need for any better kind of goodness. Often people who have all these natural kinds of goodness cannot be brought to recognize their need for Christ at all until, one day, the natural goodness lets them down and their self-satisfaction is shattered. In other words, it is hard for those who are ‘rich’ in this sense to enter the Kingdom.”
C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) in Mere Christianity (New York: HarperCollins, 1980) 213-214.
Are you nice or nasty? Here Lewis does a brilliant job (as always) to open our eyes to the fact that we may rank among those trusting in the wrong kind of goodness. It is needful to get this right.
Nice people tend to think that they have everything under control. They have little need for God as they have most things sorted. Their material and social wealth puts them in a seemingly secure place.
Their generosity flows from their surplus. They value comfort. Their bank balances show where they place their trust. They give to o their church and charities. But are they generous? Will they enter the kingdom?
Nasty people know they don’t have everything under control. They have great need for God as the circumstances of life have overwhelmed them. Their material and social poverty has them scraping by to survive.
Their give from their poverty. They know only sporadic comfort. They have little treasure on earth, but they understand the sacrifice of Christ for them so they give sacrificially. Are they generous? Will they enter the kingdom?
Many have said that Jesus comforted the afflicted and afflicted the comfortable. Are you afflicted or nasty today? Turn to Jesus and find generous help. Are you comfortable or nice? Let go of that or you may miss the kingdom!