Rags to Riches

 

Rags to Riches

 

Colossians 1:27

To whom God would make known what [is] the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

 

As kids we often would muse, “if you had three wishes, what would you wish for?”  As adults today, if we had one wish, what would we wish for?   Would it be fame or fortune, health or peace, beauty or strength?  I would say many of us, while having our needs met, wouldn’t consider ourselves rich or beautiful or famous or wise.  If we stopped to really evaluate the ways in which we are rich or we are poor, what would we conclude?  Many of us would smile and say; I’m rich with family, or in relationships I have with others.  We might be rich in the joy and satisfaction we receive from serving and blessing others and making a difference in their lives.  We have often gotten into the mindset that riches means having millions of dollars, but is a millionaire always rich?

Proverbs 13:7 says, “One man pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth.” In order to be rich, must one always have the tangible substance of material things in their possession?

When we discovered Christ, the Son of God that has freely provided so great a salvation, we discovered a vein of the most precious substance known to man.  It runs so deep and so wide and it runs from the earth beneath to the heavens above.  So many of us still haven’t really grasped how rich we have become in having Christ.  Our concept of riches it still focused on outward possessions.  It is fine if you have outward possessions and wealth, but if that is all your heart is content with then you are indeed most poor.  There is no greater poverty than the leanness and depravity of one’s soul.  In Matthew 16:26 Jesus poses the question, “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” When we found that relationship with Jesus Christ, we went from rags to riches, rather anything changed outwardly or not.  What is the price for eternal life in the riches of heaven with our almighty loving heavenly Father?  What is the price for having all my sins and faults and failures forgiven and my debts cancelled?  What would it cost to have the Christ, the Spirit of the living God, dwelling in me?  Does anyone possess that kind of earthly wealth that they could purchase these priceless gifts?  Yet Christ died to pay the price that He might freely give them to all that would believe.  You and I are so rich beyond measure and yet we are so often focused on what we don’t have.  If we truly tapped into what we do have we would realize that there are no limitation on what is possible for us to have or to do?  While we are very, very rich through Christ, we have limited understanding and wisdom in how to use the wealth we possess in the fullness of how God has intended, so we are in school.  The school of life is teaching us to practice the principles of the Kingdom that is ours.  In order for us to come into the fullness of our inheritance we must learn the ways of kingship and godly rule.  In order for us to rule like the King, we must come into the nature of the King.  How did our King demonstrate His kingdom to us?  Philippians 2:5-8 tells us, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

We have gone from rags to riches when we fully comprehend that this Christ is in us.  He became poor, of no reputation and endured the death of the cross so that you and I might possess so great a riches.   Will we miss the greater by always focusing on the lesser?  We spend the majority of our lives and resources pursuing that which is perishing while we neglect that which is eternal and priceless.  We are the sons and daughters of Most High God; let us begin to dress ourselves in the rich garments of His righteousness.  The world may despise us, but they don’t possess what we possess.  We, like our example before us, must become void of self, so that we can bring others up.  We want all of those around us to experience this “rags to riches” story.  We want them to come out of the poverty and emptiness of their soul into the riches of God’s love and grace.  There are not any greater riches in all of earth or heaven than “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Blessings,

#kent

Advertisement