MYLW 123 Unload That Camel (Emmet Fox)
Jesus said that it is easier for a camel to pass through the
eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew
19:24, Mark 10:25, Luke 18:25).
Those who understand the spiritual idea know that Jesus did
not bother with the question of how much worldly goods a man had or had
not—what interested him was a man's mental attitude toward them and toward life
in general.
If you are relying upon anything except a sense of the
Presence of God, you are a fool in the Bible meaning of the word. If you are
relying upon your own money, or your position, or your friends, or your human
knowledge, or your own smartness, you are a fool, because these things will
betray you sooner or later.
Knowledge, property, friends, position, are all well in
their way, as long as you see to it that you possess them, and that they do not
possess you; but if you want the Kingdom of God, you must be prepared to withdraw
your faith from them and put it where it belongs.
The simile used by Jesus was a graphic one for his
listeners. In those days every important city was surrounded by a wall for
defence. There would be a large gate in the wall and this would be closed at
sunset and placed under an armed guard during the night, in case of sudden
attack. There was usually, however, a low wicket gate set in the big door so
that approved travellers could go in and out at any time. This low gate was
known as the needle's eye. When a laden camel arrived after sunset, the only
way it could get in was to be unloaded of all merchandise, whereupon it would
squirm on its knees through the needle's eye and enter the city.
Unload your camel if you want to enter the Kingdom of
Heaven. You do this of course, not by getting rid of conditions, but by getting
rid of your sense of dependency on them.
Very often you will find yourself so glad to be without a
lot of that merchandise that you will never put it back.
“See ye first the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 6:33)
Big Book cross-references:
“We have found much of heaven and we have been rocketed into
a fourth dimension of existence of which we had not even dreamed.” (25:1)
“But the program of action, though entirely sensible, was
pretty drastic. It meant I would have to throw several lifelong conceptions out
the window.” (42:2)
“This sort of thinking had to be abandoned. Though some of
us resisted, we found no great difficulty in casting aside such feelings. Faced
with alcoholic destruction, we soon became as open minded on spiritual matters
as we had tried to be on other questions.” (48:1)
“Instead of regarding ourselves as intelligent agents,
spearheads of God's ever advancing Creation, we agnostics and atheists choose
to believe that our human intelligence was the last word, the alpha and the
omega, the beginning and end of all. Rather vain of us, wasn't it?” (49:1)
“Some of us have tried to hold on to our old ideas and the
result was nil until we let go absolutely.” (58:3)
“We reviewed our fears thoroughly. We put them on paper,
even though we had no resentment in connection with them. We asked ourselves
why we had them. Wasn't it because self-reliance failed us? Self-reliance was
good as far as it went, but it didn't go far enough.” (68:1)
“Perhaps there is a better way we think so. For we are now on
a different basis; the basis of trusting and relying upon God. We trust
infinite God rather than our finite selves.” (68:2)
“If we still cling to something we will not let go, we ask
God to help us be willing.” (76:1)
“Job or no job wife or no wife we simply do not stop
drinking so long as we place dependence upon other people ahead of dependence
on God.” (98:1)
“Follow the dictates of a Higher Power and you will
presently live in a new and wonderful world, no matter what your present
circumstances.” (100:1)
“. . . so you must remember that your real reliance is
always upon Him.” (164:1)