How would you answer this question, “Do your material possessions give you goals and your only reason for living?”

This is the question that James was addressing when he wrote his openning chapter. Beginning in v9 he wrote, “But the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position; and the rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass; and it’s flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away.”

God does not care about the size of your bank account, or the car you drive, he cares about what is in your heart. What is in your heart is the actions and motivations you do with the possessions you have. What do you do with your money? Do you hoard it, thinking what if? Or do you use it to help someone else? Do you build material wealth with your talents, or do you teach your talents to others?

If we hoard our talents and our money, that is a scarcity mindset; but if we freely give them to help someone else, then this is an abundance mindset. God is a god of abundance, and He does not live in a vacuum of scarcity.

Where do you put your faith, goals, and reasons for living? Do you put them in the abundance of God, or do you put them in the vacuum of scarcity; believing that aomething lost or given away cannot ever be replaced? I struggled with this scarcity mindset for years. Truth be told, I still do more often than I admit.

I choose to believe that God is an abundant god and is working all trials and struggles out for my good, to strengthen me, so that I may strengthen others like you.

May God bless you and guide you and strengthen you.