The Rotten Fruit of a Prosperous Idolater

Jesus once said that it is difficult for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. We often think of this statement as though Jesus had said it is difficult for a rich person to become a Christian or believe the gospel, but that is not what He was saying in context. He was actually saying that it difficult for a rich person to be saved because He won't let God rule over him. He never enters into the dominion of God because his eye is on what he has, and often, what he doesn't have. A man who secures and comforts himself in physical prosperity is not likely to give it up in order to exalt Christ as his king.

And this is something we experience on a daily basis. If one does not exalt Christ with the many physical gifts that Christ has given him, then those physical gifts are his love, not Christ. What often happens in such cases is that what is loved is desired, and because it cannot ever meet humanity's need for true security and comfort, what is desired is more of whatever the physical blessing might be. If money, more money. If sex, more sex. If human praise, more praise. If a high position at work, a higher position. If food, more food. If good health, perfect health. The person who exalts his physical blessings as a god craves more because such things are no gods and can never satisfy.

It is the ungrateful, idolatrous, prosperous man who usually drives in luxury who complains about his seat on the plain. It is the privileged woman who complains she is not being given her due respect at the store. It is the rich man who complains the most about having to give money to the poor. It is the overall healthy person who who complains about a cold. It is the guy for whom everything usually goes well who often believes himself to be short-ended. Complaining is the fruit of discontent with Christ's gifts as inadequate and unfulfilling that is itself the fruit of rejecting Christ as king, which also then rejects the kingdom over which that king rules.

What this ends up doing, therefore, is that it creates false expectations of what Christ should give the needy person. These people supposedly become Christians and then when Christ does not provide more of these things to them, they complain, grow bitter, and become angry toward Christ and others. Then, in bitterness, their worlds grow dark, they become depressed, and it becomes a vicious cycle where they must then seek out these false gods as their securities and comforts all the more.

A little idolatry begets a lot of idolatry. These gods heal nothing. They bring the person to absolute ruin. Such a one cannot be saved because their gods cannot save.

Hence, after saving a people out of Egypt, God then destroys a huge amount of them for their idolatry and sexual immorality that, lo and behold, is accompanied by a whole lot of complaining.

And yet, when the disciples are disheartened by this, realizing that this describes so many people, they ask, "Who then can be saved?"

To which Christ responds with a word of hope, "With men it is impossible," meaning if these people were left to themselves it is not possible for them to be saved. However, "with God all things are possible," meaning that God can grant them true repentance and a mind that exalts Him as their God and Christ as their true king. And He is able to do this because He is the real God. Christ is the real Lord and King. He is able to save to the utmost, and as Augustine said long ago, "You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until we find rest in You."