Change of Pace

This week, I decided to change pace a little bit and perhaps relate more to scripture than experience for a little bit. Here is what I would like to explore today: 

"A brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. ¹⁰But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower.¹¹For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business."

This passage form James 1 contradicts most of the American lifestyle. I would say that most American strive to be on top of whatever they do because being on top is part of the American Dream. We do not want anyone to be smarter, faster, more athletic, or better in any capacity that we are. I think James is warning us about this. When he says that, "a brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride..." as Americans, we turn off and away from that part. We see that the brother in humble circumstances should work his way to the top so that he can feel better about himself and provide for himself and his family better. We for the most part do not identify with the second part of this passage either, "...the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business." We see that if a man is rich and still going about his business, he will make more money and be even happier and more comfortable. The image of something passing away after a normal amount of time has also been lost in our culture. We are very reluctant to let something pass away. We preserve our food and plants, we strive to preserve our youth, we preserve our health through strenuous means. Basically, we are not willing to let something pass away in the first place, much less our wealth, fame, power, or position. I think that James is telling us that we should be more content and less attached wherever we are in life. If we do have wealth and power and other resources, we should be good stewards of that realizing for the most part that we are only STEWARDS, not owners. We should realize that like it says in Job, the Lord gives and takes away. Everything is ultimately his, not our own. The flip side of the coin is that if we are on the bottom of the ladder, we should take pride and hope from the fact that God is a God of creation and change. We do not have to stay down forever. God can help us and does help us by instilling his hope and peace. I think that this is not really manifest in our lives as Christians for the most part. Why do Christians still buy into the game of being on top? Don't you think that God can use us no matter where on the "totem-pole" we are?