THE CURSE WE THINK IS A BLESSING

Written by Chris Bloom, posted by Lora Bloom

When asked about God’s blessings, we in America like to point to our vast wealth as proof of God’s favor. After all, the USA is not only the richest country in existence, it's the richest country by far that has ever existed. Even though we hear a lot about how China is catching up to the United States, its economy is about half the size of the USA’s.

And that's a very serious problem.

Jesus said something that should profoundly disturb us. (Actually, he said a great deal that should profoundly disturb us, but I'm just talking about the one thing right now.) He said that it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into the Kingdom of Heaven.

Now, there is a way to get a camel through the eye of a needle, but it takes a lot of patience and you won't end up with a working camel. It won't be useful for any of the things you would normally use a camel for. It won't even be camel-shaped. It will, in fact, be a vat of camel juice. 

And forget any nonsense you might have heard about a gate in Jerusalem called the Needle’s Eye that a camel could only fit through if it was unloaded and kneeling. That story was made up in the 1800s by a pastor who wanted to keep some rich parishioners.

Of course, few of us would consider ourselves rich. And we're probably not by American standards. But the fact remains that even poor Americans are wealthy compared with most people in the world. That may not help much if you happen to be one of those poor Americans, but it's the truth. 

The problem is that Jesus called wealth something that would keep us from God. Things that keep us out of Heaven are called curses, not blessings.If Jesus said it's hard for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, then all of us, myself included, who live in the richest nation of all time should be very concerned.

We also have to rethink what we've always been taught to think of as blessings. We have to ask ourselves if God would really bless a nation that was intentionally founded as a secular republic (If you don't believe me,  just read the Constitution!), or one that has never minded lying, cheating, stealing, and killing to get what it wants (If you don't believe me, just read a history book!).

There's nothing special about the United States of America that inherently draws people to God. Being born here makes you an American citizen, but not a citizen of Heaven. And being rich is not always a sign of God’s blessing.

There's nothing in the New Testament that indicates a connection between God’s favor and wealth. You have to look in the Old Testament for a link like that, and since we're not Hebrews living 3000 years ago, we should be careful if we have to get our examples there.

[LC Bloom isn't a 3000-year-old Hebrew, but you'd be excused for thinking so. He's from Birmingham, Alabama, and can be reached at lechroom@icloud.com. He also writes for Built for Glory and has written for COBRASAURUS‼‼!]