Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted, but the rich, in that he is made low, because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. James 1:9,10
This time of year I love to see, and smell, the pretty white blossoms on my little apple tree. But although the blossoms began to appear just a few days ago, the petals are already falling to the ground; they last for such a short time. They are unlike the colourful red and pink blossoms on my neighbour’s flowering crabapple tree, so much more showy than the white-only blooms on my tree, and they last for at least a couple more weeks. The trees are different in another way, too, in that the neighbour probably paid a goodly sum for his beautiful tree, while mine is just a wild bush that appeared by itself, taking root on the bank of the swale before we arrived here. These two trees are so like the two Christians in today’s text.
These two men were so different in their life’s station. The first – of low degree – was definitely poor, possibly a menial labourer, maybe even a slave, and yet he could rejoice in what God’s salvation had brought him into. Unlikely to ever occupy any position of property or importance in this life, this brother has the glorious inheritance of Heaven to anticipate, along with the joys and treasures of being one of God’s own children in the here and now. The second – a brother with wealth – had everything needed and desired for this world’s comforts and pleasures, and yet he could rejoice in what God’s salvation had brought him into. Once a slave to his possessions and his pursuit of this world’s treats and trinkets, this brother has come into the appreciation that he is only a sinner saved by grace.
Like the blossoms on our apple trees this spring, and even the apple trees themselves some decades hence, the two brothers in our text are on this world only so long. Perhaps James had two particular men in mind as he penned these words, and if so those men are centuries ago returned to dust, even as James himself has done. And even as you and I will do far sooner than we expect unless the Rapture interrupts our sojourn and demise. Let that thought place our lives in perspective. Like the blossoms and apples of our little trees, we can produce the beauty of a Christ-centred life and the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. But in the grand scheme of God’s great program, our little contribution is pretty miniscule, isn’t it.
We can rejoice today in what God has brought us into and in what we can contribute to Him and to His. Because our time to do so is so very short. – Jim MacIntosh