“Rich in Faith”
Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? –James 2:5-7
The Gospel has a special attraction to those who are without. The rich have many ways to confront the struggles of this world, but the poor can only turn to God. Those who have no resources have no allusions about being able to stand in the face of troubles. Indeed, there are few worse feelings than being broke or close to it. The man without money is vulnerable and insecure. We like to say money is not everything – but it counts for a lot. Throughout the course of history, security in society has depended on ones resources. In all but the most primitive cultures the most significant resource has been money. We use money to acquire our material needs. To be without money is to be without security. This is the reason God favors the poor – they must depend on him to provide for their needs. More than the wealthy, the poor understand what it means to rely on God.
The problem with the rich is that they are tempted to see their own hand has the source of what they have. To be sure many rich men have worked hard for what they have. And, in the same way, many of the poor have no one but themselves to blame for their predicament – sin is the root of poverty. What is forgotten, however, is that God is gracious to sinners. The poor man may well have caused his condition, but when he repents, God will bestow blessing on him out of all proportion to his sin. This blessing will in part be manifest in the poor man’s material needs being met. But more than this, the poor man will have been blessed by having a greater knowledge of his spiritual impotence, and in having seen God’s hand work in his life. Poverty is not to be venerated, but it can be used by God to bring men closer to him.
The man who has not known want struggles to see his need for God. Indeed, he is inclined to revel in meager glory of the work of his hands, rather than to see and know what it is to be unrighteous. The man who does not continually repent over who he is will do great damage to the Church. There is no other way to grow in grace than to see ones need for Jesus. Do not misunderstand; there are many men of means who know their need for a savior; and, there are many in the Church, rich or poor, who do not. The problem is that if the rich man’s resources are not controlled by faith, they will be used to cause problems. This has always been the case. Most of the attacks the world has levied against the Church have been financed one way or another. But at the same time, God has taken great delight in thwarting those attacks through the simple means of faithful prayer.
All that we lack, we lack so that God may demonstrate the power of providence. We should never despise our own, or another’s lowly estate. Rather, where we lowliness in ourselves or others, we should see an opportunity for God to manifest his grace. To be in need is to be in need of Christ. It is a blessing to call on him. To do so is faith itself. And it is though faith that we become truly rich men.