From riches to poverty?

Jesus talked about how hard it is for wealthy people to enter The Kingdom.  When I read those passages, I tend to think of people who live in castles and who own a fleet of vehicles and who eat food that costs more per plate than my monthly food allowance.  BUT, when you take this world's population and put us all on one big scale, everyone reading these words would be in the very top percentage.  Americans are wealthy.  We're amazingly wealthy.  

And wealth makes people strong.  And strength makes people FEEL strong.  And feeling strong makes God seem weak.  And thinking God is weak makes people reject Him.  And rejecting God means rejecting His Kingdom.  It is difficult for the wealthy to enter The Kingdom of God.

I'm blessed with the opportunity to leave American culture.  I'm blessed to live among people who are wealthy in many ways, but not in dollars.  It's easy here to realize we're not in charge.  My impressions of American culture these days is that America is really, really, really overconfident in itself.  Mankind in general is soooo prideful.  It's easy to see, if your eyes are open.  May God open the eyes of our hearts so that we may see...really see our own condition.  

Bless us with poverty, Lord, if that will lead us closer to You!