Devotional - April 12, 2023
Scripture: James 5: 1-6 Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.
James knew folks's welfare hinged primarily upon the distribution of wealth. In his day, as it is today in many countries, all the wealth (power) resided with a small number of people. Within their socio-economic system, possibilities for advancement were not available. The rich stay rich, the poor stay poor. Unless, as Jesus told the rich man in Matthew 19:21, you sell everything and follow Jesus. Had the man done so, he would have seen the conditions in which the poor had to live. He would have understood what it was like to persevere under sparse and unjust conditions. James disparages their wealth at the coming of the Lord Almighty. It is as useless as rotten food, clothes eaten by moths, and corroded metal. James compares the luxury enjoyed by the rich against the outcry of the harvester who starved after ensuring the landowners crops were harvested on time. Worse yet, the rich sit in judgement over the poor and condemn them when they are innocent. But James reminds them, they will not get away with it. Their deeds will return to them when the Lord Almighty judges them. Their glee will turn to weeping. They will be held accountable for the pain they caused. James, like many of the New Testament writers, thought the coming of Christ was imminent. As we've seen, it was not, but does that matter? Whether it came in their day, or in our day, or five hundred years from today, does it matter? If anything, it means we have longer to process the meaning of the Gospel and our relationship with Christ, and look at us... Look at our societies that have churches on every corner, free Bibles for the taking. The spiritual issue James is addressing is not wealth, it is greed. When for selfish reasons, we lose ourselves in self delusion. When we become unconscious of what is going on around us. When we do what we know is wrong (James 4: 17). We are heading the wrong way.
Pray with me.., Holy God, we confess that we too get lost in our own luxury. We too can feel entitled at the expense of others. Enlighten us Lord, help us to follow You. Lord, we pray for our loved ones, bless them according to their needs. Bless our church Lord, so we can be the people You call us to be, in Jesus name, Amen.
God's peace, Pastor Brian
