My
brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations...If any of you
lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and
upbraideth not, and it shall be given him...Let the brother of low degree
rejoice in that he is exalted: but the rich in that he is made low: because as
the flower of the grass, he shall pass away. For the sun is no sooner risen
with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth and the grace of the fashion of it
perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.
– James 1:2-11.
The easiest way to
become an adversary of the Spirit is to think that God is unreliable and
faithless because of unfulfilled desires in your season of calamity. To be
adversarial to sovereign authority is detrimental to your prosperity. The
season of calamity will come to everyone, rich or poor. There’s no escape from
this. Don’t feel complacent if you have not yet experienced one. It’s not
because you are smarter and more intelligent than others. But if you want to
make genuine, tangible progress with God, it is a season that you should not
dread, but welcome with enthusiasm. That perplexing phase of your life when
disappointments appear to stalk every move you make is certainly not a pleasant
one. Yes, it could steal the courage of any rational, intelligent person. But
for those who choose to embrace the wisdom
of God, it is a season that must be
confronted, engaged and surmounted.
The Maker of the
universe certainly doesn’t want us to settle in our comfort-zone, and
stagnate. We are continually challenged
to be adventurous, make progress and experience greater dimension of grace and
power. But for too long, many of us have dwelled on imprecise, and shallow teachings that will ameliorate
our fears, instead of what will challenge us to confront and conquer our fears.
Some of us are even actively looking for teachings that would make us excusable,
and discharge us from being accountable and responsible.
Today in America, the
bastion of capitalism, you can’t even open the page of a business magazine,
newspaper or browse online without being assailed with some screeching treatise
on the looming dangers of income inequality; how the commonwealth which has
multiplied overtime due to technological breakthroughs has been pocketed by a
few, the so-called one-percenter; and how these economic cabals have bought up
political power, leaving the poor voiceless, disenchanted and disenfranchised
practically, as they have limited choices as to how their votes could count.
Unable to save, many have gone into larger debts to maintain a respectable
status. Social infrastructure is crumbling, and apart from paying lip-service,
politicians are not eager to show any tangible concern.
The American dream,
for many, has become an American nightmare. It’s a sign of the changing times
that to be labelled a “socialist” does not carry the stigma or evoke the fear
it once had. I grew up reading of how
the Joe McCarthy hearings in the 1950s criminalized and blacklisted suspected
socialists in government offices and Hollywood, ruining the promising careers
of many. Today, Bernie Sanders, a professed democratic socialist is giving a
competitive scare to Hilary Clinton, a supposed front-runner in the Democratic
presidential primaries. That he is galvanizing serious attention on the
national stage shows the poor are not only agitated, they are also asking
questions. Whether they are asking the right questions is another matter.
In Africa, especially
Nigeria, there is no social safety net for the poor; as they are left hanging
on the edge of naked hysteria with raucous laughter used to mask their sorrow.
Running around the same cycles of limitations without making progress is what
some call resilience. Better word on the street puts it as: “suffering and
smiling.” No good schools.
Over-populated classes with de-motivated teachers. Dilapidated roads, excuses
for death-traps. Decaying hospitals.
While not absolving
governments of their serious responsibility towards the poor, I dare say
whatever ugly situation the poor are facing in any country, it is a rebuke from the Creator which they
refuse to hear ! The book of Proverbs 13:7-8
in the Bible says: “There is that maketh
himself rich, yet hath nothing:
there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches.The ransom of a man’s life are his
riches: but the poor heareth not rebuke.”
It’s true that
poverty breeds dependency and destroys creativity. That’s why the poor cannot
afford to hold unto poverty and glorify it. If it appears that the poor is at
the mercy of the rich, it is because the poor are looking up to the rich to
save them. In the eyes of the Creator, the poor is not disadvantaged in any
way. That’s the truth which cannot be denied. If the Maker of the Universe
is on the side of the poor, it is not logical why they should remain poor.
Cutting through every theological clap-trap, when the blood of Jesus Christ was
shed historically, an irreversible revolution took place in the Spirit realm where the rich and poor
were equalized economically; and
lack of money could no longer be a tenable excuse of why anyone would not be
enterprising, productive and solution-oriented.
Instead of being
dependent, overcoming mental paralysis, the poor should stop feeling inadequate
and disadvantaged, step out to enforce his/her vision without looking to be
praised by men. The poor should bury his/her fear, expose and trade their talent
to become profitable.
Realistically, if the
poor as the inheritors of the
kingdom of God, already established here
on earth, would not shake of their lethargy and complacency, take up the
responsibility of demonstrating the power of his/her kingdom, things would keep
getting tougher and harsher, even as the rich conspire collectively to secure
their privileges and sense of entitlement.
Again, for the point
of emphasis, the poor are not helpless, disadvantaged or powerless in any way:
they have the superior and priceless currency of the wisdom of God which they can and should leverage in any nation,
America, India, Nigeria, U.K. etc to achieve whatever they need.
Hear what James says
in another place (2:5): “ Hearken, my
beloved brethren, hath not God chosen
the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath
promised to them that love him?”
Paul the apostle
writes in 2 Corinthians 6:10: “...As
poor, yet making many rich; as
having nothing, and yet possessing all things.” (To be continued.)
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| Felix N. Jarikre |
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