We read in Holy Scripture that when inquiring of Jesus, what good thing that must be done in order to receive eternal life, our Christ responded in Matthew 19: 21, "…. 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." But the man that asked this question was deeply saddened by this response, for his wealth was great, and he did not desire to give that wealth up. So too, for those today that profess to be Christians or are sympathetic to the Christian faith, though having monetary assets, how many of these give up all their material wealth to the poor, and then truly follow our Messiah?
In passages such as these, people of wealth and means, like to scramble through various interpretations of such, for when those that receive wisdom, find it not to their liking, in which they are truly put to the test, a test that surely separates the sheep from the goats, prefer instead to put the test off, through any legitimate or illegitimate excuse that comes to mind, for the giving up of one's wealth, or of one's status, doesn't seem responsible, or prudent, or sound, and so put it off they will do.
Yet, the passage can be taken literally, for what material assets did Jesus or His disciples really have, and further to the point, which of his disciples, besides Judas Iscariot, that once having made the commitment to be on the straight and narrow path with Jesus, removed themselves from it, but rather each of the Messiah's disciples paid the final price for their faithfulness and integrity, by becoming martyred, with the sole exception, being John who was exiled to Patmos.
That is to say, had Christ's disciples and apostles not taken to heart, Jesus admonition to forsake material wealth, and to thereby truly come and follow His mission, than there never would have been the Christian religion. The very message of our Messiah and those closest to Him, that is, His disciples and apostles, are those that made it possible for Christianity to be the worldwide religion that it is so today, and without them practicing and preaching such to those they met with day-by-day, Christianity would not have survived, let alone, thrived.
Still, many that have money do not like the above passage, because they see it not as practical in the real world, of which, they never seem to question their own vision or wisdom, and feel if they lend a helping hand or advice to others less fortunate than them and/or tithe that is surely good enough. What, though, if everything that you believed about the meaning and purpose of life was actually wrong? For instance, is it really fair and prudent to believe that you and your philosophy, does actually supersede the Christ? Perhaps, the things that we chase in this Western World aren't really the things that really matter. In fact, perhaps we have it all wrong. For this material life, will end in material death; and material treasure such as money and its equivalency, will not now nor ever, follow us into the afterlife, so that, understanding that our physical life is finite, perhaps there is immense wisdom in recognizing that our true essence is not of this world, is not of our body, but it is our soul that animates the body, and this soul does not need anything material, it never has and it never will, it just needs re-union with God.