Facing Life

What a fortune here! And you can have this fortune. And possessing it, you will have the greatest fortune any man can possess. In comparison with you, a mere millionaire would be a pitiful pauper.

This is wisdom speaking. The riches she offers are within the reach of everyone. The world of wealth is exclusive, but the world of wisdom is a democracy. Scholarship is exclusive, but wisdom offers her fruit--the fruit of righteousness, the fruit of understanding and discernment to all who seek it, and to all alike, the learned and unlearned.

You may be poor, you may be uneducated, but the essential treasure of life, wisdom and understanding and spiritual discernment, are within your grasp. "Whoever of you is defective in wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all men without question or reproach, and the gift will be his" (James 1:5,). No reproach for previous deficiency. No question as to social or cultural status. The wisdom to live a good and triumphant life is within the grasp of all men, even the poorest, even the most unlearned.

God has placed a marvelous heritage of wealth at the disposal of the poor and simple people of the world. "Give ear, my dear brothers; are not those who are poor in the things of this world marked out by God to have faith as their wealth, and for their heritage the kingdom which He has said He will give to those who have love for Him?" (James 2:5).

The kingdom of worldly wealth may be closed to you. But the kingdom of heaven, with all of its wealth of truth and beauty and life and love and comfort and joy, is wide open to you. Where is the door? "I am the door," says Christ. Entrance through this door calls for repentance, humility, self-renunciation, the exercise of saving faith in Christ.

The wealth the kingdom of God offers is indeed a fortuneÑimperishable, "durable riches." If you want it and have the faith to claim it, it is at your disposal. Yes, it is a fortune you can have.