Walking With God Today 06/23/08

“Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you!”  James 5:1 (NKJV).

James has already addressed the issue of “favoritism” in chapter two, but without addressing the issue of the wealth of the one’s to whom favoritism is shown.  This verse and those which follow are a strong rebuke for the wrong handling of the wealth with which God has blessed those who have it.

It is such a sad thing to see many houses which had families in them who were happy and blessed with a house of their own, with the exception of the mortgage holder.  They may have taken on more debt with the purchase of the house than was wise.  Now, due to their circumstances, sickness, or even bad money management, they find themselves out of those houses.  Then, those houses are not reselling because of a bad housing market, and they sit there empty with no one taking care of it.

Here are wealthy companies which could allow these families to refinance at a lower interest rate, lower payments, and allow these families to keep their house.  It seems to me that both family and financier comes out a winner.  I am no financial wiz, and know little to nothing about financing of anything, but this just seems to be common sense.

There is a warning in the above verse from our writer, the half brother of our Lord, of miseries which are going to come on the wealthy.  That is the wealthy who horde it all up for themselves, and never help those in need, in a sacrificial way.  We hear of some giving multi-millions of dollars to charity organizations or starting charity foundations with a donation of multi-millions of dollars, but at what cost to them?  Where, oh where is the sacrifice of even 100 million dollars out of a net worth of even 10 billion dollars.  Nobody needs that much to live on.

The people to whom James was writing flaunted their wealth, expected some favoritism, and were evidently stingy with it, not sharing it with the members of this Jewish congregation.  It would be a terrible thing to have much more than I needed and see a brother or sister in Chirst struggling day to day just to put bread on the table, provide health care for the family, and just struggle with keeping the house payment, and car payment paid up.   If your one of those who are wealthy, and you are a Christian, begin noticing those brothers and sisters in Christ around you who are struggling financially; and do something for them anonymously, give them enough to pay off their car, or their house, and maybe they have some on going health expenses with debt, be generous  and pay it off.  I believe God would bless the home of a man or woman even more for such generosity.

Wouldn’t that be better than having this warning ringing in your mind day in and day out?  Knowing that you have taken the blessing God has given you in the first place and used it for His glory, not yours; would be a blessing in itself.

Walk With God Today.

-Tim A. Blankenshi