How Much Earth?

At the end of my favorite drama, which I have probably watched 5+ times, the main character asks Ghenghis Khan, "How much earth will you take up when you die?" Ghenghis Khan gestures out a piece of ground no more than a few square feet in size. "Then for what reason have you built this empire?"

I do often wonder about my potential paths in life. Whether my life might include the nicer things in life, which I find difficult to part with. I love eating out. I would love to support my favorite artists by buying their music more often. I actually enjoy shoe-shopping. Ice cream. Beer. A cigarette, every now and then, even. More than any other tangible thing, a stable and genuine romantic relationship.

None of these things are "bad," per se. But all of these things require money, to some degree, at least as I have experienced them in my upper-middle class existence. Would I truly be content with being poor, with living a penny-pinching life? Would I truly be at peace with sharing the sorrows of the oppressed and downtrodden, with a life of ministering to them? I know that this is what it means to be a Christian. What I do unto the least of these, I do unto God Himself. This is eternal life: to know Christ. To know Him, know His heart for the world. Not just the upper crust of society that receives so many blessings, but the lowly as well, whom He loves dearly.

Logically, no reason stands against the latter, but my flesh screams for the former.