Whether you have a little or a lot, what you need most is God’s perspective on your money trials.

Back in the day, there were distinct classes of people: poor/rich, slaves/free, men/women, educated/ignorant—distinct classes—and these classes never mixed socially. There were lines you just didn’t cross, but not in the church of Jesus. The early church was different from every other social institution of the day. There were no class distinctions in the church: men/women, rich/poor, slave/free, educated/uneducated—they all came together as one people, one body—the body of Christ. No one was higher or lower than anyone else. Everyone stood on equal ground at the foot of the Cross. That’s the perspective that successful, prosperous people need, and to go against the world’s value system, was humbling to those first-century well-to-do believers. But there’s more here. James talks about how flowers are beautiful but they will quickly wilt and die under the heat of the desert wind. And he compares that to a rich man who hitches his heart to pursuing material goods that will soon pass away. There is wisdom in knowing that all the material things we own will not last. They will fade away. And, if we hitch our hearts to those things, our spiritual life will fade away as well.

READ James 1:9-11

In God’s economy, your identity must never be anchored to how much money you have. Really, this passage is about identity: how you see yourself, how you define yourself, how you are not to let the world define you based on what you have or don’t have, and how you are to see yourself as God sees you so you can live as God says.

That is godly wisdom. That is God’s perspective when it comes to your status in life. Whether you have a little or a lot, God sees all His children the same because at the foot of the Cross, there’s no higher or lower. In God’s kingdom, no one is better than another or worse than another. And that means, your identity must never be anchored to what you have or don’t have. So, James is saying, if you have a little if you feel small and insignificant in the world’s eyes—know this—Jesus has given you an exalted status. In the Kingdom of Heaven, you are important, and in the Kingdom of Heaven, you’ll have “riches” that are far beyond anything this life can offer you. So, don’t anchor your identity in what you don’t have. Your identity is rooted in who God says you are and what God says He’s given you in Christ.