Wednesday 21st
James 1:5-11
NIV (vv9-10) – ‘Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower.’
ESV (vv9-10) – ‘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.’
James comes to the subject of humility and pride here, what he says reverses the thought pattern of this world, he says that it is the one in humble circumstances who is in the higher position, and the one who is proud needs to take note of humility, for the same end will come to all, ‘like a flower of the grass he will pass away.’
Humility is an essential characteristic in the life of a believer, whatever our circumstances in life we are all born sinners, we will all eventually die, we can achieve plenty, accumulate plenty and yet only what we have done with Christ and for Christ will have a lasting effect.
There is a right form of pride in that we take pride in what we do, in other words we should seek to excel in our education, career, marriage etc. but we should not place our trust in these things at the cost of our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. What is eternal is of far more value than anything that is temporal. But this is not what I intend to be covering here, it is the last few words, ‘like a flower of the grass he will pass away’.
Death comes to all. We cannot get away from it, unless of course we happen to be alive at that moment when Jesus returns, when we will be raptured, but we need to be prepared for the inevitable. It is in 1 Peter 1 that we read ‘All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flowers of grass. The grass withers and the flower falls . . .’ (v24) As you probably know by now, I love my spring flowers, especially the tulips and I have been waiting patiently for them to bloom, there is not a day goes by where I don’t go out and look at them and admire them, they are so beautiful and majestic in all the various colours, now, some of them are beginning to die, the glory that I saw in them a few days ago is vanishing and they are getting a bit tired and droopy, in a day or two they will be gone. All of us will go the same way, we might think that we have plenty of time, but we still need to be prepared, for we are reminded clearly in Scripture, that man has an appointment with death and after that will come the judgment. (Hebrews 9:28)
The wonder about my tulips is this, they are here today and gone tomorrow, but in another year I will look forward to seeing them in bloom again because the seed of life is hidden within the planted bulb, and we too have this wonderful assurance that if we have committed our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ, that is if we have acknowledged him as our Lord and Saviour, there is the seed of eternal life already residing in our lives and when the day comes, when we will fade away, that moment when death calls, yes, we will be like the flower that fades, but a glorious resurrection awaits, just like my tulips, the day will come when we will bust from out of the ground again and for us it will be to a new and eternal life. Romans 8:11 ‘If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.’ and ‘Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”’
What a glorious hope, what a wonderful day that is going to be. I end with a challenge, do you believe this, have you come to the place in your experience that you know with confidence that when your turn comes to fade away like the flower, it will be in preparation for the glorious resurrection to eternal life?