After James’ opening verses, his following words may seem quite confusing:

The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position.

What the? The opening verses of trials and prayer are now turned into a practical example of how one should understand their position. The person of humble circumstances, to put it bluntly, is one who lacks material necessity and possession, the poor. Is James trying be funny? What high position? No. Quite the opposite, James is talking about the riches of one’s faith to see themselves from the perspective of God rather than the perspective of man.

It makes me think, how often do we look at people through our own eyes rather than look at them through the eyes of God? Do we look down on those who have little and pass judgment? Be honest with yourself. I, certainly, have made judgments about people based on their material standing. Just wait, James has a couple of words for those who are rich.

To those who are of humble circumstances, let these words be encouraging. God has blessed you with faith, hope and love which all come in abundance and without condition. To each person through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, God seeks to renew them to a new position in life unlike anything they could ever imagine. A position in life that cannot be taken away or altered by any circumstance in this earthly world. A position is based on the eternal things of God rather than the temporary.

In a world that is constantly changing, who knows what tomorrow holds? However, regardless of who we are and where we stand, God is unchanging and his perspective is eternal. Likewise, James calls us to be those with an eternal perspective, setting aside our material position to focus on that which is eternal. We could go on, hour after hour, about what the eternal perspective looks like but in short let me say that each of us needs to get an eternal perspective on our purpose in life. In our study, in our work, in our interaction with people - our perspective needs to be eternal. Personally, I believe our eternal perspective is tied up with the spreading of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God.

As promised, the words to the rich:

The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower. For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business.

It always strikes me when the Bible talks about the rich or anything involved with money, there’s always so much to say. Anyway, now James has turned the table. The rich should take pride in their low position. It really sounds like James is confused. Yet, this time, unlike with the poor, James explains what he means. The rich will pass away like a wild flower; that is, death. So, the poor will die as well, what’s the big deal? The point James is trying to make is, again, about perspective. The rich should realise their low position that their wealth is, but, temporary.

James doesn’t use any soft illustrations to make his point, he uses life illustrations to drive his point about the temporary nature of life and how our perspectives should be set correctly. When we gain an eternal perspective on life, everything changes. When we recognise that all that we have is temporary and instead focus on the things of eternity, our lives should change likewise. Whether we are poor, rich or somewhere in-between, there is more to life than simply what we see.

Neither is my life as a techno-geek limited to the computer, phones…and if any of you know me, you know I’ve cycled through a great number of them…on average one a year, though I will say that I have slowed down that process and with the upcoming iPhone will slow that down significantly. I could go on, but really, I’ll save it for another time. From the techno-geek…

Boy, God you’ve been teaching me a lot haven’t you? And it all goes back to my primary school days with the good ol’ school motto: “My utmost for His glory.” Now that I think about it, the ol’ high school motto kind of applies as well, “Honour the work.” Funny that.

First week back at uni and Jake taught me something that would start this chapter in life, “Give glory to God in everything that you do.” A new chapter where I would begin to seek to do my utmost for His glory and that would also honour His work.

About six weeks ago, you started moving in my life, you started to visibly mould me; it wasn’t circumstantial preparation, this was the real deal, the hard-core stuff.

You took me back to the days of my youth, when I committed an act that I thought you could never forgive, now it was my turn to forgive myself. You spoke through Joey and Jeremy that week, opening my eyes to the truth, then you capped it off with a message at a church I visited.

Then, the following week you started teaching me to trust you. Especially, in relation to my heart. I’m still learning to trust you with that, I really would like to know what is going on. Again, in my times with you, you are calling for me to trust you.

Moreover, you’ve been teaching me to be open and honest with people. Along with trusting You and continuing to peel away the lies that have built up over the years. It’ll take time but it’s something that needs to happen.

Finally, you’ve been teaching me to patient. You’ve taught me to be patient with people, now it’s time to learn to be patient with you. Lord, you’ve everything on the line with me, you’ve entrusted me with a kingdom that is far beyond me; and if I fail, Lord, what will You do? You’ve given me dreams and visions that are beyond imagination; I pray that I can live up to Your calling.

Thank you Father, for your grace and salvation.

I still think that the school mottos are really funny and how they apply to my life. The bottom line of my life is about giving my best for the glory to my God, part of doing that is to honour the work that has been entrusted to me. I don’t journal much but when I do, I’m surprised at what I write when I look back.

A lot of the things that are written here still apply to me a great deal. I still struggle with the consequences of my past actions and am still struggling to overcome such ordeals. Yet, for all the excuses I make, my God is faithful to forgive me and wipe my record clean each and every day.

At the moment, really struggling with some life situations and the lesson on trust is an adequate one for this time. Certainly, there is an element where I simply need to put aside my doubts and inadequacies, trust that God will bring me through in one piece.

I think with the particularities of my life struggles, I don’t lie to people, but I’m certainly not up-front and open with them. Most people would see that as a legitimate reason, however, I find there are very few people who I can actually trust and open myself up to. (Sad, I know.)

Patience…well, I would like to think that I’ve learnt that lesson but am often reminded that it’s still yet to be perfected. I think one thing that has changed, I recognise that I can’t fail at the task God has given me. He has given Jesus Christ to bring me to the place I’m at and I have humbly sacrificed all that I have (I say humbly because it’s taken many years of struggle and continue to struggle) for the sake of the kingdom of God. Indeed, my prayer is that I will live up to the purpose and calling that God has given to me.

Again and forevermore, thank you God my Father, for the grace and salvation that you have given not only to me but all people.

Yes, I am shamelessly promoting Download Day. Mozilla is attempting a world-record for most downloads in 24-hours. On the launch (to be confirmed) of Firefox 3, Mozilla hope to set a new world record officially judged by the Guinness World Record council.

Spread Firefox | Download Day 2008