Money is one of the main barriers to God. That is why, in Western culture people strive to be close to God while having enough money, but in poorer cultures people strive for money but are often very close to God. In poorer cultures, people are very giving while having very little, but in Western culture, people are very stingy while having much and complaining about it. (Think about the luxury you have compared to someone in the African outbacks?)
I did a social experiment involving this catalyst called money, and it's the biggest experiment I tried in my life because I could not have foreseen the consequences of it.
And yes you might say, well in poor countries, corruption is rife. Well corruption is I believe more rife in wealthier countries. If you think about it, not so long ago, wealthy countries like America and the UK, enslaved people of other countries. Slavery is still there, just in the form of money poverty. Where there is money, there is more possibility of invisible slavery wrapped in legal loopholes. Wealth loves law.
Money is the biggest barrier to God, because it is material. Imagine giving up everything and giving it away to a good cause so you have nothing, but having the faith that God is Good and will reward you? Most cannot. It's very much a cultural thing where we never really know whether the grass IS greener, but we look at those who are able to do this and are inspired. Those who give up their life of luxury (a roof over your head, a shower, internet, TV, clean water), and go live in a poor country to help those in need, in servitude.
It's been about 10 years since my experiment which taught me so many things about God and reality. I've been hoping for the faith to try experiment number 2. Anyway all I can say is the results were very much of a supernatural level that I cannot explain in a way you would understand without trying it yourself. But it did feel to me, in my opinion, that I found within that experiment (money was only the catalyst in it), the keys to the kingdom. I now know that when the Bible talks of such, it's not necessarily talking about 'at the end', it's a version of reality. Try reading the Bible without the concept of time. Time bends things into a certain form. There are so many ways of perceiving things.