Is it wrong to be rich?

 I heard a shockingly insensitive discussion about the Californian wildfires out in the public by a couple of strangers. They described them as 'cosmic karma' for rich people getting what they deserved.

I suspect it's common for poor people to assume that it's wrong to be rich, but is it really?

Jesus famously told the rich young man to sell everything and follow Him. Is that necessary for every rich person? I'm not sure it is. Jesus knew that for that particular young man, riches were his barrier to faith. 

In fact, Jesus went as far as to say that it's harder for the rich to enter His kingdom than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. 

Surely then it's wrong to be rich? Not necessarily, because Jesus went on in context to say that what's impossible for us is possible for us. By implication, it's possible for rich people to go to heaven.

The Bible doesn't simplistically say that being rich is wrong. It doesn't even say that money is the root of all evil (correctly, the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil). So being rich per se isn't wrong, but wanting to be rich for it's own sake is, which is a rebuke to those of us who aren't rich but would like to be.

Also, although being rich isn't wrong, being greedy is. Being stingy is also wrong. If we are rich, we ought to be generous.

James urges rich people to remember that their lives, like all of us, are just like a breath. Riches can delude us that we're invincible. Tragically, these wildfires have fatally revealed the mortality even of the rich, and of the transience of wealth.

It would be appropriate for me to conclude by saying my thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by the Californian wildfires.