Wealth can be a terrible obstacle to gaining salvation. A rich person can buy just about anything they want. Why pray when you have plenty of money?

In Jesus' day many Jews thought that if you were wealthy God was showing you favour, and if you were poor, God was displeased with you. But Jesus was poor! And most of His followers were poor, or close to poor, so it is obvious that poverty is not an indicator of your relationship to God.

RICH AND POOR

James uses a picture story and the sun, and grass and flowers, to teach us about the futility of wealth for its own sake. Sometimes beautiful flowers appear in a garden. They spring up with glorious colors...but in a few days they turn brown and fall to the soil.

Life is like this. Wealth is like this. It lasts a short while and then its gone. Wealthy people are much the same. Life is short.

         "As a
       flower of
    the field
      (the rich)
      will
        pass
      away. . .
       the rich
    man will
fade
  away in
         his
      pursuits."