“The eye of a needle”
“The eye of a needle”
Matthew 19:22-26.
The ”eye of a needle” is described as a gate in Jerusalem that was so narrow that anyone hoping to get a camel through it would have to strip it of all its loads and make it bend the knee and squeeze through. This refers to the impossibility it portends to come into the kingdom of God with a heart loaded with the love of the world and a clutch for possessions. Possessions need not necessarily be in terms of money alone but represent every acquired physical and intellectual property whose love continues to contend against an entrance into eternal life and living solely by God’s grace.
The text came from a conversation between Christ and a certain young man who had a good religious upbringing and was rich in possessions. Our generation will tag him as an accomplished man because he exercised a form of moral consciousness, religious inclination, and a well-professed reverence for the Master until there was a demand for the loss of his acquired wealth. The man will probably continue with all his religious proclivities despite fumbling the true test of his religiosity. He would justify himself that he was not the worst of all sinners and wrongly believe that his morality and upholding of the law should be adequate to win him a place in the heart of the Lord eventually. He could even task himself with doing more philanthropy and helping the needy, perhaps thinking the Lord will reconsider His stance of “he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me”- Matthew 10:38. What a needless oneration and unfruitful labors. The “eye of a needle” is the needful test for all believers to adjudge them truthful in their profession and service. It will point out the unyielding attachment of our hearts with worldly entanglements and pleasures. The “eye of a needle” will expose the true state of our heart towards God and give us the exactness of our consecration whether it matches His expectation or veers off the tangent of His blueprints. It is then sensible and humbling for us to abandon all clingings and clutching to this world’s good above the love of our Master- Philippians 3:7-8 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.
