9 Now the brother or sister of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position; 10 but the rich person is to glory in his [j]humiliation, because like [k]flowering grass he will pass away. 11 For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so also the rich person, in the midst of his pursuits, will die out.

James 1:9-11 (NASB) 中文 

Jame’s style

We mentioned at the outset of this book study that James is a potpourri of topics on living the Christian life. They don’t seem to all fit together. “In some ways, the Book of James is like the Book of Proverbs or other Old Testament wisdom literature, and it can jump from topic to topic and back again to a previous topic.” (enduringword.com) So here, he’s been talking about trials. Now he takes a commercial break to talk about rich and poor. Do your best to see how it fits!

Low is high

By humble circumstances, James, in context, means material wealth of this world. This first verse (9) seems to be an encouragement to those who are poor to not consider their situation on this earth but, rather, to look to eternity. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 4:18 that we should, “look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” 

In a similar vein, Jesus instructs us, “19 Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)

If we want to apply this to trials (the larger context of this passage) then we could consider Romans 8:18: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” This is certainly of great encouragement for those in any kind of suffering.

High is low

In juxtaposition is the rich person. They have “everything” in this life. Yet it cannot satisfy. The writer of Ecclesiastes laments, “So I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold, all was futility and striving after wind, and there was no benefit under the sun.”

And Jesus commented on this as well: “…If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what good will it do a person if he gains the whole world, but forfeits his soul? Or what will a person give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:24-26)

In summary, we might say, “If a man is only rich in this world, when he dies, he leaves his riches. But if a man is rich before God, when he dies, he goes to his riches.” (enduringword.com)

RЯeflection

• How rich are you? The better question is, “Where are your riches?” In this, all are equal. We all have 24 hrs a day. We all have good works God prepared in advance for us to do (Eph 2:10). It’s possible James is implying that the rich have a more difficult time laying up treasure in Heaven. 
• If you have worldly riches, how can you use them for God’s glory? If we really trust Jesus for salvation, then we trust His Word and what He says about Heaven. Think about it.