THE PATTERN OF THE RICH
Dear Father of our faith, we thank you for this opportunity to learn your truth and the hidden mystery in your Word. We ask for mercy to follow you wholeheartedly, and help us not to be like the rich man. Amen!

There’s a pattern to all things, even as there’s a particular mindset that works for each pattern of life. The pattern of life leads to different lifestyles and whatever lifestyle a person chooses determines their reality here and after.
The lifestyle we live is a reflection of our choices and decisions, and our decisions create our behaviors, and this in turn makes us suitable for certain patterns of life. Every pattern of life leads to either of two directions; life or death hereafter.

The Bible makes it very clear that all sinners shall die, irrespective of the kind of wrongdoing. A fornicator or an adulterer cannot say to a thief “you shall die but I’ll live” simply because society approves of sexual immorality and disapproves of stealing. For both are dead in sin; they are of the same pattern of life.

Sin is not an act, but a pattern. People become unrighteous by their thoughts (Isaiah 55:7, Colossians 1:21), and their actions are only a confirmation of their death within (dead in unrighteousness). Sin is in the thoughts and a sinner is a person who thinks this way, and this is reflected in his pattern.

No one can escape this even though we might argue that all humans are not the same and everyone can’t make the same decision.

However, decisions are born out of thoughts, similar thoughts lead to a pattern, and every pattern leads to either of two places; a place of life or death.

Our focus will be on the pattern of the rich, and our excerpt will be taken from the biblical account of the encounter between Jesus and the rich man:
¹⁶ And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
¹⁷ And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
¹⁸ He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
¹⁹ Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
²⁰ The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? 21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.
²² But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions (Mathew 19:16-30).

This encounter between the rich man and Jesus reflects the pattern, decision, and end of the rich. For this rich man is not just a particular person, it’s the disposition of the rich. It’s the thought pattern of the rich and the way the rich behave towards the program of salvation and their thoughts for attaining eternal life.

The rich man was enthusiastic at first, he wanted eternal life so he enquired about it. However, he didn’t understand the basics of the message of Christ. He didn’t understand the concept of salvation and what he needed to be saved from, he just wanted eternal life. It was this lack of understanding that made him assume there has to be something he could offer to qualify for eternal life.

So, Jesus replied to him sarcastically by telling him to keep the commandments. Jesus knew the man didn’t understand the commandments and didn’t know he was guilty of all (for a person who breaks a commandment, has broken all because they’re connected). Yet, the rich man claimed to have observed all the commandments (which is quite awkward because no one can truly obey a law they do not understand).

The rich man thought he had a good standing with God for obeying the law (by his standards), and wanted to know what he lacked, so Jesus told him to give off all his possession and follow him. The rich man lost his enthusiasm at this junction and chose his possession over the same eternal life he so wanted. This shows the man wanted eternal life as a plus to his wealth; as something acquired as extra possession, and not his main possession in life.

The law in the rich man’s perspective was physical, he didn’t know God’s perspective of the law yet salvation is only found through God’s perspective of the law. To the rich man, he was not a murderer because he hadn’t killed anyone, however, God’s perspective of murder is an intense dislike for someone (1 John 3:15, Mathew 5:21-26). His definition was different from God’s definition of murder. He was just and hadn’t killed anyone in his own eyes, but he had killed someone in God’s eye.

Similarly, the rich man thought he was not an idolater because he hadn’t bowed to any graven image nor served them, however, God’s definition of idolatry is too much desire for wealth or possession: covetousness (Colossians 3:5, Luke 12:15-21), and his reaction to Jesus’s response showed he lives by this.

The concept of salvation is a process and it entails overcoming human desires and pride, for all problems of life are tied to these two things: a strong desire for wealth and pride (1 John 2:16, 1 timothy 6:10). Usually, when a person achieves what he desires, pride and judgment set in, and if he doesn’t achieve it, shame and resentment arise within, and this is usually expressed in anger and violence.

Salvation in Christ provides freedom for a person such that they can live above desires and become humble. For this reason, Christ gives us a list of commandments called the gospel which if followed obediently, a person will walk in righteousness and overcome the common disease of all humans.

Salvation from the common madness of all flesh takes time. It requires a series of practices and tests as instructed through education in the Holy Spirit. A person needs full focus and time to 2 study the word of God in other to be transformed by the Word into a new person created in the image and likeness of God (Colossians 3:10, Ephesians 4:24), after which they shall be rigorously tried (1 Peter 1:7, James 1:2-4). The rich man lacked this focus and he did not have the time to be saved.

After the rich man heard what Jesus said, he went away sorrowful because the requirement for eternal life was not what he hoped for. He didn’t want to follow Jesus, he didn’t want anything to disrupt his plan for his time and possessions.

He loved his life the way it was, he just wanted eternal life as an addition to it. He wanted to continue his life and business as usual and at the same time have a place in eternity. So, he wanted to gain a spot in the kingdom of God by supporting the ministry of Jesus with something other than his time and focus in life.

However, nothing can be given for salvation. For the work of salvation is within, that which a person needs to be saved from is happening within them. Therefore, God requires us to create time to study his word and know his righteousness, and get saved as we live by his righteousness.

Eternal life cannot be given to the unsaved, it’s the profit we get for allowing God to do his salvation work in us. It’s the aim of the work of salvation. God can save the rich man and give him eternal life, but in the end, he walked away from eternal life because he did not have the time to allow God to work in him. He did not want the work of salvation to be done in him, he just wanted eternal life, and his end is common to the rich who think like him; they die when they have amassed so much (Luke 12:20), and will find themselves in the same place hereafter (Luke 16:1-31).

The behavior of this rich man in the bible is the pattern of the rich towards salvation and eternal life, they get so preoccupied with acquiring possession with little or no time left for anything else. The rich who lives by this pattern do not have time for the transformational work that happens in Christ, because they do not have time to study the scriptures and commune with the Holy Spirit as is required to know the truth, yet freedom only comes as a result of knowing the truth (John 8:32).

This predisposition is common to the rich: Those who think this way do not give their time to anything other than acquiring possessions. They’d rather give large sum donations to religious establishments or clerics, and pay full equivalence as tithing on their increase but would never give their time and focus to following Jesus. This leaves them with wealth yet still captives to the old nature.

Sadly enough, the rich man is the reality of most people in the present world. We live in a harsh world and are faced with an unprecedented level of hardship almost every day, and this has turned the average human into a very covetous entity as a means to overcome the hurdles of life.

From the least to the greatest of us is an idolater through covetousness, and when we get what we desire, we cling to it like the rich man and would not give it up to follow Jesus. The average human is not driven through life by the desire for the kingdom of God, instead, he’s driven by the ardent desires for wealth, power, and fame: ambition, and this is reflected in his choices and decisions.

The pattern of the rich is inherent to all humans, in fact, the world encourages us to think and live this way. Many of us may not be rich yet, but our trajectory is the same as the rich. We have this pattern of thought and our wants are the same; to acquire and possess.

This is our focus in life, and the implication is that we become poor in the things of God and in no time fall into the rudiments, thinking that we stand a chance in eternity when we have all the boxes checked for the Ten Commandments like the rich man. We even go as far as justifying our busyness with our need for a comfortable life forgetting that comfort is only found in the Lord.

This pattern of life has only one end for as many who think and live this way. As Christians, we must not be carried away by our ambitions, we must not be too busy acquiring and possessing that we forget to serve God. We must distinguish ourselves as a kind that has nailed our desires and passions to the cross and has crucified them there. So then, let’s give our time to God to work in us so that we might overcome the old nature.

Let’s make eternal life our main desire in life and not an addition to our immediate desires: food, shelter, and societal importance. Let him who’s overtaken by desires let the word of God help him overcome them, and he who is proud should let the word make him humble, for without this work happening in us, we cannot be fruitful or multiply nor will we replenish the earth and subdue it as commanded.

Thank you for reading...