Words of Wisdom #21

We move today into James 5:

 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. 2 Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. 4 Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. 5 You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.

We might be tempted to read the above paragraph and say: "Okay, not me; I'm not rich, so I'm good." Not so fast. James would tell us: "Stay at the mirror a little longer and look a little more closely." Very few of us may be what some call "filthy rich," but we have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence, even at the expense of those around us. We have collected treasures we cannot take with us, which our kids will probably not even care about, while brothers and sisters of the faith around us, not far from us, and around the world go without the basics. "Take a good hard look", James says, "and determine to change." Don't wait for it to be taken away from you; begin to share it today.