Rich men weep

Jas 5:1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
Jas 5:2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
Jas 5:3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
Jas 5:4 Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
Jas 5:5 Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
Jas 5:6 Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.


Remember this…


Mat 19:23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 19:24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.


What is it about riches that corrupt us? Can a person be rich and be uncorrupt? I believe they can but it's a very rare thing. Helping others, doing for others what you would like done to you, all but demands that the riches be shared- yes? Helping those in need, tending to the needs of the poor. Jesus would rather we put our treasures in heaven- not here on earth. When we become rich we tend to accumulate 'things', and those 'things' become our treasures don't they? If your home caught fire (God forbid) but if it did and everything inside it was destroyed, how long would you mourn the loss of the things you possessed- beyond the things of what we call necessities?

I've been cleaning out our garage where we store a lot of things and in the process of cleaning I've been able to go through what I call- baby boxes- my children's and my own. Inside those boxes are the things of memories. I'd take out a little bank statue of Mickey Mouse I bought when I went to Disney World in 1976 with my family and I was only 13 years old, and the memories would come flooding back. Or I'd pick up a little ABC Ceramic child's bank belonging to my son and I'd smile with the memories of him being a baby. I'd open notebooks and read some of the things my children wrote when they were little and the smiles they would bring to my face were too numerous to count. Things that provoke memories- things that would be irreplaceable if lost but things that will NEVER have the same thought-provoking moments for another person. After I'm gone and my children inherit my things they'll hold up the stuff monkey I was given when I was six months old for my first Christmas and it will mean nothing to them, maybe that's a little harsh, it will mean very little to them. And once they have children and those children inherit things- if my things are even kept by my children- those things will have even less meaning, finally other than being really, really old things worthless to anyone but me, those possessions those treasures will be completely meaningless. If I lost all my possessions I'd lose a lot of memory provoking things, and yes, a few things of monetary value but not much. Yet a rich man who possesses much-has a lot of money tied up in the things he possesses and in affect he loses money if he loses his possessions. If we tie our affections to the things of this earth we are NOT tying our affections to heavenly things.

How real is heaven to us? How real is life everlasting to us?

Is there any wonder we are told rich men will suffer?

Jas 5:1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
Jas 5:2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
Jas 5:3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
Jas 5:4 Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
Jas 5:5 Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
Jas 5:6 Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.

The earthly riches mean nothing as they are selfishly bought and selfishly held fast to. NO one can take their riches with them into heaven when our Savior comes. No one who is blessed enough to receive the miracle of salvation will want to bring any earthly riches to heaven.

So while we long to have riches enough to live in what we call a comfortable manner without having to worry about paying bills and such, we have to comprehend that we are truly blessed in being able to understand that things are just things and life is more than mere riches.

We are blessed in not being rich, we really, really are but it's so incredibly hard to believe as we struggle with our finances.

Please Lord, help us to trust in You in all things, including in the riches we do possess and if they are mostly spiritual riches help us to know that heavenly treasures are those that really matter most. Please Lord, help us.

In Your Love LORD, Your LOVE!

Amen.