James 1:9
But the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position;
Truth: Despite our circumstances, we are to glory in the position we have in Christ.
In James' day, the believer was not typically in the position of wealth and high social status. The entire book was written to believers that were part of the "dispersed" believers. Even to those who were socially wealth, once they became believers, would be excoriated in the public eye and would lose position, wealth and even their jobs and/or careers. James will, repeatedly, in this letter warn the rich not to trust in those temporal and tangible pleasures for this life. What James does tell them (and us) is that even if we are socially deficient we are eternally wealthy. James, also, is not just telling us this for the future. The believer is "now" enjoying those benefits, as we are in Christ. James is not the Theologian that Paul is, but he is not less in what we have in Christ. The rich have nothing on us. We are rich in Christ and that gives us "creature" comforts and a different perspective for life's circumstances. In our society the poor and the destitute are not normally "glorying" in their position. This is how James is telling us to live upside-down in our world. Or, perhaps, better, how to live right-side-up in a upside-down world. We are to be different. Our bank account is not to give us comfort and reason to glory. Our team is not to give us comfort and reason to glory. Our careers are not to give us comfort and reason to glory. Our position in Christ is to give us glory, not our position in life.
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