Mark 10:24
And the disciples were astonished at his words.  But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!

Even a poor man may trust too much in riches.  How easily we can apply all the attributes of God to riches and depend on them for salvation instead of Him.  We look at them as the answer to all of our problems.  We can use them to get ourselves out of trouble.  We use them to buy what we need.  If we have a lot of money, we can get the best of everything.  And if we allow them to replace God in our lives, it even seems like we can thrive in this life without Him.

It may be so that having a lot of money and possessions makes certain things easier in this life, but developing a dependence on them is certainly very foolish, for they can all be taken away very quickly.  They are such a flimsy foundation, and the fear always remains of losing everything, and then where would we be?  And though they can be useful, they cannot solve the problem of sin or give us peace with God or gain us entrance into heaven.  Though it may seem like we should be able to buy our way in, the cost it really required was much more than we’d probably be willing to pay.

How much sweeter it is to trust in God instead of something that can never last forever.  How much sweeter it is to experience His love and presence in our lives than to think money will buy us happiness.  How much sweeter it is to depend on Almighty God, all-knowing and so wise, so much bigger than everything else, the all-sufficient One.  Our relationship with Him is something that can never be lost, and we should find much strength in that fact.  And that knowledge casts out fear, because we don’t have to do it ourselves and we don’t have to try to figure everything out on our own.

May we put our trust solely in our wonderful and amazing God.  May we not allow something as temporary as worldly wealth to draw us away from a loving God who promises us good things when we are obedient to Him.  And if we find ourselves relying a little too much on what we possess, God might see fit to take it away from us so we have no choice but to depend on Him alone.  God has truly done so much for us and proven Himself so faithful, so may our reliance be only on Him.