“Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted . . . Your gold and silver are corroded . . . You have hoarded wealth in the last days.” James 5:1, 2, 3
It is so easy to overlook these verses. There are several ways we can assume these verses don’t apply to us. The one I see most often is to assume these verses don’t apply to us. I’m not rich, right? It’s pretty easy to drive around and find houses bigger than mine, to notice people with clothes that are nicer than mine, to hear about those who are able to travel more often and to places I can’t enjoy. There are lots of people richer than me. But that’s looking the wrong direction. What about those who live in homes much smaller than mine or have no home at all? Or those who have very few clothes to wear, or who have never been able to travel? Especially when we look outside of our own country. If you are living at poverty level in the United States, you are among the top 13% of the wealthiest in the world. That means that 87% of people in the world have less than you. That’s right. If you’re at poverty level in our country, you’re rich!
What do these verses mean for those of us who are wealthy? Does it mean that having money or possessions is evil or bad? I don’t think so. What these verses are alluding to is our attitude about them. The first question we need to answer is who do they belong to? Are they yours? Are they mine? Scripture tells us that all we have belongs to God. He gave it to us to use, but it’s still His. Do we think of it that way? Do we ask or wonder how He would want it to be used? Or do we only think of our own comfort and desires?
I’ve heard of people who wish for a solution to world hunger. Well, I have one. If all people shared their money and possessions so that everyone has an equal amount, none of us would starve. Of course, that will never happen on this earth because we are all sinful, selfish humans. But that shouldn’t stop those of us who are in Christ from sharing what we can with those who are in need.
So what does that mean for all of us? Does that mean we give away all we own? I don’t think so because then we would simply become a burden on others. Do we choose to live on as little as possible, sell all our possessions that aren’t absolutely necessary so we have more money to share with others? I’m not so sure that’s right, either. I believe that God gives us some things simply for our enjoyment. In other words, they may not be a necessity for life, but God still wants us to enjoy His gifts to us. I don’t have an answer to these questions. I struggle with where the line is in my own life. And maybe that’s the answer. Maybe God wants us to continue to struggle with this, continue to seek His will, continue to hold all our finances and possessions very loosely. Maybe it’s in this day-to-day struggle of how we think about our wealth that God will show us more and more of Himself. That’s a treasure worth having!