Christ said it was difficult for 'the rich' to enter the kingdom of heaven, referring, no doubt, to 'riches' in the ordinary sense. But I think it really covers riches in every sense--good fortune, health, popularity, and all the things one wants to have. All these things tend--just as money tends--to make you feel independent of God, because if you have them you are happy already and contented in this life. You don't want to turn away to anything more, and so you try to rest in a shadowy happiness as if it could last forever.
But God wants to give you a real and eternal happiness. Consequently he may have to take all these 'riches' away from you: if He doesn't, you will go on relying on them.
-C. S. Lewis, 'Answers to Questions on Christianity,' in God in the Dock, p. 52
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