Rich Repentance

Scripture Reading: James 5:1-6

One could read this text and get the impression that James is condemning wealth itself. That would be a mistake. Wealth comes with its own set of unique problems. It tempts us to trust in it rather than God. It can make us arrogantly believe we possess what we possess solely by our hard work, wisdom, and ingenuity. It can make us greedy. One would think there would come a point in time where a person would think “I have enough,” and some people can do that, but many wealthy people always want just a little more.

So, wealth can be a trap. But that doesn’t mean that being wealthy in and of itself is a sin. There are some people, rare as they might be, who are in love with Christ and walk faithfully with Him and are also very wealthy. James isn’t condemning wealth he is condemning the kind of wealthy person who takes advantage of those in his or her employment. He is picturing someone who is living in luxury while not fairly paying those who are working hard in the field to produce that wealth for them.

There are a lot of CEO types today who need to hear James. They have millions of dollars earned off the sweat of minimum wage employees. These people face judgment, not for being wealthy, but for what they did and didn’t do with that wealth.

What James is doing is calling for repentance. When we look at our lives and realize they are full of greed and lust and a hoarding mentality, we need to realize we will be held accountable for what we did with what we had in this life. The time to repent is now. It will be too late then.