It's hard!

For some folks, it's automatically going to be a hard battle, one almost impossible to win.  Reaching the goal just isn't going to happen without extraordinarily difficult tasks, choices, and sacrifice.

Being rich apparently insulates us from reality, from the real world, from God's view of things and people, even from our own children.

This young fellow came to the teacher and asked what he needed to do to finish well.  He was told to love God and obey the rules.  The guy said he'd done all of that, and the teacher told him to prove it, but he couldn't or perhaps wouldn't.  His wealth and position, it seems, had tainted his thinking, his view of himself, his comfort and luxury and future. He couldn't bring himself to consider changing course to a better purpose.

It's hard, the teacher said, for a rich person to finish well. Really hard. Later, the teacher's friends were struggling to understand.  "If that rich fellow can't do it, how can we or anyone?"   There is a way, but it's perhaps not obvious once wealth and class obscure things.  

He meant what he said, I think.  And if I live in America, chances are I'm rich, maybe fifty times richer than most others in the world.  Is that a problem?   What do I not see, what have I missed?  How much of my life is spent on the wrong things?

And as for that kingdom he was talking about ... what are the chances the richest country in the world, a wealth-focused culture and economy, is headed in the right direction?  

If the path I'm on seems easy, it might need a critical review.   

Is the goal clear?