Thursday, August 15, 2019

James the Just - Part 4 - Advice to Both the Rich and Poor

Friday, August 16, 2019

Believers who are poor have something to boast about, for God has honored them.  And those who are rich should boast that God has humbled them.  They will fade away like a little flower in the field.  The hot sun rises and the grass withers; the little flower droops and falls, and its beauty fades away.  In the same way, the rich will fade away with all of their achievements.  James 1:9-11

I have never been in danger of being included on the Forbes List of the richest people anywhere.  I was stationed at Fort Knox for the last six months of Army service, but I never even saw the gold (they never let you get too close!). 
On the other side of that coin I was born a citizen of the United States of America; that immediately placed me in a category of wealth compared to most of the world’s people.  Being a rich person is always relative based upon to whom you’re being compared.  Compare my bank account to a homeless man, and it appears I struck the mother lode; re-focus the comparison to Donald Trump or Warren Buffet, and that contest is a joke.
James says the poor are honored by God.  In our culture, with its emphasis on owning stuff and building a life on the stuff you can acquire, that is a startling statement.  But, startling statements are nothing new when you’re turning the pages of Holy Scripture. 
James started off his epistle talking about faith being tested with tough times, and he’s elaborating here on the wise exercise of faith.  The apostle says acting in faith means making decisions which affirm the fact that my relationship with God defines the meaning of my life, not the size of my portfolio.  Jesus nailed that down neatly for us:

Then he said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.”   Then he told them a story:  “A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops.  He said to himself, ‘What should I do?  I don’t have room for all my crops.’  Then he said, ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones.  Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods.  And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come.  Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”’  “But God said to him, ‘You fool!  You will die this very night.  Then who will get everything you worked for?’  “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.”  Luke 12:15-21

Besides building bigger barns, rich and poor alike have always tried to build bigger monuments to what they have done in life.  This, if you believe Solomon, is also vanity, or emptiness.  James says the achievements of which we boast will fade like our hairlines, waistlines, and lifelines.  I have read the stories of many rich people in history, including Hughes, Rockefeller, Gates, Jobs, Onassis, Kennedy, and even King Solomon.  Ultimately it is not the balance sheet that impresses me about any of them, but rather the faith that connects creature with Creator, and how it impacted what they did. 
Jesus didn’t own a thing.  Even the robe he wore got repossessed and became the prize in a dice game.  Jesus’ true legacy shows up in the hearts and decisions of millions of believers every day. 
For You Today
If you were the rich guy in Jesus’ story, would you have the wisdom James talks about to change the ending of that story?  And would you?
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of  Wikimedia Commons
                          Unless otherwise noted, Scripture used from The New Living Translation©

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