Resurrection Hope
Hope in the Day of the Lord
James 5:1-6
The Message
Destroying Your Life from Within
5 1-3 And
a final word to you arrogant rich: Take some lessons in lament. You’ll
need buckets for the tears when the crash comes upon you. Your money is
corrupt and your fine clothes stink. Your greedy luxuries are a cancer
in your gut, destroying your life from within. You thought you were
piling up wealth. What you’ve piled up is judgment.
4-6 All
the workers you’ve exploited and cheated cry out for judgment. The
groans of the workers you used and abused are a roar in the ears of the
Master Avenger. You’ve looted the earth and lived it up. But all you’ll
have to show for it is a fatter than usual corpse. In fact, what you’ve
done is condemn and murder perfectly good persons, who stand there and
take it. For Reflection
We
live in one of the wealthiest nations on earth. Most of our poorest
citizens are wealthy in comparison to some in the third world. What is
the effect of affluence on our faith?
Ibn Khaldun, an Arab Muslim, one of the founding fathers of modern sociology and economics, living in the thirteenth century made some remarkable observations He noted that when people are poor or less affluent, family ties are closer, people are more moral, and religious spiritual values are the glue that holds families and society together. In affluent societies, like ours today, he also observed that the society suffers from "value relativity," that is the absence of absolute values.
Think about it. Our news media reports that the discontent with our governance and economic systems grow larger each year. Haven't we heard repeated lamentations about the erosion of the "Protestant Ethic?" Are we not discussing in many venues the lack of commitment among our church goers? Does the apparent deterioration of spirituality reduce the effectiveness of a spiritually driven culture which binds one to another?
Ibn Khaldun, an Arab Muslim, one of the founding fathers of modern sociology and economics, living in the thirteenth century made some remarkable observations He noted that when people are poor or less affluent, family ties are closer, people are more moral, and religious spiritual values are the glue that holds families and society together. In affluent societies, like ours today, he also observed that the society suffers from "value relativity," that is the absence of absolute values.
Think about it. Our news media reports that the discontent with our governance and economic systems grow larger each year. Haven't we heard repeated lamentations about the erosion of the "Protestant Ethic?" Are we not discussing in many venues the lack of commitment among our church goers? Does the apparent deterioration of spirituality reduce the effectiveness of a spiritually driven culture which binds one to another?
Pray
Pray
for the just and compassionate distribution of the world's wealth.
Pray for the wealthy asking that they understand that it is in their
interest and the interests of all others to reduce the gulf between the
wealthy and the poor. Pray for families so that they may improve those
things which bind them to each other. Pray for the churches so that
they may comfort believers and work for justice and compassion for all.
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