“Not by their wealth, their education, or their position does God estimate men.  He estimates them by their purity of motive and their beauty of character.” The Ministry of Healing p. 477

In the field in which I work, position is everything.  Unless someone is a VP or up, it’s hard to get something done.  Oh, you’re a director? Who’s your VP, and maybe we’ll get back to you in a reasonable amount of time.  Oh, you’re an analyst?  I’m not even going to return your email.

In my dad’s field and my brother’s field, unless someone has a doctorate, it’s hard to get in the door.  The minimum threshold for employment is mucho education.  How does your alma mater match up to the others in the office?  How good is your research?

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We’ve also seen and experienced the different social strata that wealth provides.  Growing up in school it was: what brand are the shoes, what brand are the clothes?  Later it was, how nice is the car, the education, the connections that come from the family?  Are you a doctor’s kid, lawyer’s kid, executive’s kid?  How big is the house, how many houses, how rich are the furnishings?

All of those things can play tricks on our minds, whatever side of whatever line we may fall on.  We often try to prove our worth by proving our superiority in some facet of life.  God doesn’t see it like that.

James 2:1-4 – My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. 2 For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, 3 and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool,” 4 have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?

There will come a time when our our probation on earth is over, and the faithful will enter God’s kingdom.  At that point, there is a certain equality, as material things mean much less there.  God will honor those most who have shown the best character.

I’m not saying that wealth, culture, education, lineage, or position is bad.  But they are not qualifications that make God like us.  We need to learn to see as God sees, and live to gain the true treasures that really matter.

John 6:27 – Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.

We need to learn to live life seeing things as God sees them.  We need to set priorities on the things that God sets priority on.  Let’s work for the food which endures to everlasting life, and work to secure purity of motive and a properly developed character.