The Rich Man Will Fade Away

For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.  James 1:11

I have wanted to be rich.

It wasn’t big bank accounts and skyrocketing investments that attracted me. It wasn’t the money that I was after when I wanted to be rich. It was the lifestyle. Not like the gaudy rich who flaunt their wealth in tacky ways. I was drawn to the understated elegance of the rich who have and use good quality things. Tasteful luxury. That was what I wanted.

And even more than the material things of the wealthy, I was drawn to the people, the important people, influential people, and powerful people that are often in the society of the rich. I wanted to be with those kinds of people. I wanted to be one of those people.

Today, not so much.

There was a time when I lived that way. I was never wealthy, not really. But we were comfortable. We built a big new house in an upscale community. We had new cars. All the kids were in private school. We had nice things. There was money in the bank.

And I had influential friends, people who rubbed shoulders with those you might see interviewed on the national news.

Then my life came apart. When I crashed, I lost the house and the cars and the stuff. I was homeless. I spent two years living in an inner-city rescue mission. Can you guess how many of those influential friends came to visit me while I was in the mission? One did. Once. In two years.

James was right, rich men fade away in the midst of their pursuits. I did. For me, though, it wasn’t a fade. It was more dramatic than that. Think of cars flipping end over end in a crash at the Daytona Speedway. I ruined my life and badly damaged the lives of many people I loved.

But Jesus was there. Jesus was with me the whole time that I was falling apart, and he showed himself to me while I was in the mission. I’ve told that story elsewhere and won’t take the space to repeat it now, except to say that experiencing the presence of Jesus in the mission transformed my life and my desires.

I still like having quality things, but only if I can find them in a thrift store. My car is eight years old, has 150,000 miles on it, and needs a paint job.

I don’t long to hang out with the rich and powerful anymore. Today I get to spend my time with the poor, the weak, and the forgotten. Some of them have been in the news, but for different reasons. And I also get to spend time with those servants of God who join us going behind prison fences and razor wire, to visit Jesus’s friends.

Later, James wrote, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.” James 1:17.

What a gift it is to serve him by visiting prisoners and to do so with some of the finest people I’ve ever known.

 I am rich indeed.

Much love, Barry

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