To Encourage You

James 1:9-11 “Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.”

A Christian is to have an eternal view of life, for it’s eternal life that he or she possesses. Jesus said, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life” (John 3:36).  Notice the use of the present tense.  Eternal life isn’t something the believer is waiting for. He or she possesses it already. It’s a quality of life that an unbeliever cannot know.  Again, as Jesus said in the words immediately following this, “whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life.”  They will not experience life after their physical life has ended. They will exist, mind you, but it will be an existence that is described in the Bible as “the second death” (Revelation 20:14).  And they don’t “see life” right now, i.e., they don’t see life from an eternal perspective. 

The passage above from James 1 touches on this, as does almost everything else in the Bible, for the Bible is, first and foremost, a book about eternity.  Here James is talking about one of the most mundane issues of life, the topic of money.  It’s the focus of so many in this present world. In fact, Jesus warned that many people have given money and the things money can buy first place in their life.  As such, money can be an enormous barrier to ever knowing God.  Jesus put it this way in Mark 10:25: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” He also said, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” (Matthew 6:24). 

So, how should a Christian view money? What’s God’s eternal perspective on it? For some insight on this, we can turn to the passage above from James 1.  Here James tells us that “the lowly brother” should exalt in his station in life.  He’s talking about those Christians who are viewed as poor in the eyes of the world. Actually, he is referring to some people in his letter who are poor because they are Christians.  Some of them had had their wealth taken from them because of persecution. The same holds true today as many believers have lost everything, especially in Islamist, Hindu, or atheistic nations. But why can such a person exalt?  Because in eternity (which is a whole lot longer than the “three score and ten” of this life) they are “joint heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17). That means that everything that is His, which means everything that is, will also be theirs forever and ever.  And, as the martyred missionary Jim Elliot once said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” It’s the eternal perspective of the believer. 

But then a word to the wealthy believer. That believer should “boast in his humiliation.” In other words, he or she should see their earthly wealth as nothing more than a gift of God for a time, but it will soon evaporate.  We all know that “we can’t take it with us,” although many live as if they think they can!  The rich, like the poor, are to have an eternal perspective and be ready and willing to give it to others to bless them. 1 Timothy 6:17 puts it this way: “As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.”

Again, it’s an eternal perspective.  It’s a mind set on obeying Christ’s command to “not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).

So, what about you? Are you rich in the eyes of the world, or are you poor? Regardless of how much wealth you have, are you truly looking at it from an eternal perspective?  If you are a Christian, you should be looking at it in just that way.  But if that’s not how you see it, maybe it’s because you can’t, for it is only those who obey the Son who will see life, i.e., the eternal life that is the present possession of everyone who has put their faith in Him.