I've lost count on how many times I just sit back, in the quiet stillness.

Tilt my head back and close my eyes,

Imagining I'm back there again. 

Blessed are the Rich

While I was browsing Facebook today, I stumbled upon an old friend's post that jolted me quite a bit.
She said: "God loves the rich more then the poor."

Try as I might, I could not fault her in that belief as from a secular perspective, it does seem quite true - God seems to be more bias towards the rich then unfortunate poor. It doesn't take much explanation to see why - the rich are able to buy their health, live much less stressful lives, leave behind momentous legacies that far outlasts their own physical lives... and much more.

In fact, with so many churches preaching about "faith giving", and "prosperity gospels", it does seem that one could actually buy their way to heaven using money.

But I digress, the above is merely from secular perspective. To see the world from the lens of God, a person needs to understand His heart first.

1) Jesus came down poor
God could easily send the Holy Spirit to impregnate one of Caesar's concubines and hey presto, you would get a Jesus who is not only has inexhaustible material wealth, he's also have a heck lot of political clout. But no, Jesus became born as a human being in one of the most poverty stricken districts smack right in one of the most culturally and capitally developed civilizations on earth. He was born to an abjectly poor family who probably was chased out of a tavern because of caste differences, and breathed His first breath in a stinky stable in a wooden box where donkeys eat their food out from.
He was the saviour of the poor first, before the rich even came to him.

Why would God do that? Seriously? Wouldn't it be easier if He sent Jesus to be born in a wealthy family? He would have a moneybag swiss-knife that could bend people to His will!

But nooooo. Poor.

God's heart for people is never to force people to accept His love. To use legions to subjugate populations to "confess Christ" is antithesis and heresy. He wants people to come to Him willingly, and to love Him out of a willing heart, with their own choice. That is why material wealth would be a hindrance instead of a tool in spreading the message of salvation.

2) Jesus' first teaching, the Beatitudes fore-mentions "poor", "meek", "persecuted", "weak", "hungry", with more then half of the reference in direct reference to people living in poverty.
Blessed are the poor.
Blessed are the meek.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake.
Blessed are those who hunger for righteousness.

Why? It's a ridiculous notion because it is the RICH who are blessed, isn't it?
C'mon. Blessed are the rich for they have a beautiful Porsche.
Blessed are the fabulously wealthy for they can buy their own frigging kingdom.

It is in this context when this teaching shines through. - Rich people do not need any more blessing. They are self sufficient in much, they are self sufficient in little. That is why they do not see blessings any more - what they see is, "I constructed my kingdom with my own hands, with my own social skills and expertise - where was God in all this?".
The marginalized and poor have nothing, every day they wake up is a blessing, every meal they eat they feel undeservedly grateful for it. It is in this when the poor are able to see God in the smallest plentitudes in their life..

3) The eye of the needle.
Probably one of the most painful statements that Jesus ever said.

I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:23-26

Rich people DESPAIR.
Well... if you were the disciples at that time you would probably baulk at this statement as it would probably mean in today's context - nobody to fund the church, no land from government, nobody to give large tithes.

But probably the more important statement is the last part of the verse which says, "Who then can be saved?" and Jesus answered. "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Because in contrast with the lifestyle that Jesus was living, hell, probably every other person walking on the street was rich.

The rich will find it harder to enter the kingdom of heaven because the more material wealth they struggled to build on earth, the harder they will fight against relinquishing it.
For the poor person on the roadside, the homeless pauper, to give his lunch money of $2 into the charity box, merely means that he will go hungry again, maybe, God-Willing, he will be able to get another $2 for dinner.
For the wealthy CEO and billionaire, a proportionate equivalent of the pauper's $2 would be, yes, a couple of billion dollars. What goes through his mind is however, far more complex - what will happen to my business empire? My shareholders? My stock options? My loans? What about my reputation? What about the workers who work under me? - as a result, he'd probably throw in a grand $1000 bill and give himself a pat on the back saying, 'Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and render unto God what is God's.", without even understanding that he just condemned himself.

But does that mean that the rich cannot be saved? Of course they can!
Salvation itself is an impossibility apart from God.
Transcribed into the former passage, you get "With men, salvation is impossible." - and true is that.

Salvation itself is an impossibility, so why question impossibility unless you are questioning salvation?

So back to the topic, rich people are not more blessed.
Rich people, in fact, are more tested.

For every dollar you have comes from God, be it one or a billion dollars.
Blessed are those who believe with all their hearts that they are poor, if not for God.