Riches Make Earth Easy

In Matthew 19:23, Jesus shares how it is hard for a rich person to get to Heaven.

I have always wondered about that verse...

How much money do I have to earn to be considered rich?

Does that mean that rich people can't get into Heaven?

Does it mean that those who are rich must become poor?

I am not a theologian, and I am sure many will disagree with my interpretation of this message, but my mind has recently comprehended what this verse may mean for the first time. 

I was meditating on this verse (something that I have just started to do, rather than just hurrying through a passage, but that is another subject for another time) and I came to understand it. 

Think, for a moment, how your life here on earth is affected by how much money you have, by how much food and clothing you have... 

I have to say that my life is pretty easy. Most of the time, I love my life.

Wouldn't we be longing for Heaven a lot more, if we were starving... If we had to work from sun up to sun down just to have the bare necessities, like some have to...

So, I can see how riches do make it harder for us to get to Heaven. What I am to do about that, I am not sure yet. Should I give up all I have, or just change my mindset?

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.