Verses to Abide In
1 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. James 5:1-6 ESV
Digging Deeper
From Grant Richison
The first six verses of chapter five are warnings to the wealthy. James does not condemn wealth itself but the misuse of wealth. People who use their wealth for self-indulgence and hoarding and gaining it by unlawful and ruthless means are his target.
From Randy Alcorn
When earth becomes our heaven—when we see
God’s blessings as being primarily immediate and temporal—we lose sight of who we are, why we are here, and what awaits us beyond the horizons of this world (Money, Possessions, and Eternity by Randy Alcorn. p.192).
From Don Anderson
“Woe to you who are complacent in Zion, and to you who feel secure on Mount Samaria…You drink wine by the bowlful and use the finest lotions but you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph” (Amos 6:1-6).
What he is describing there is the very description we see in Daniel 5:27, “You have been weighted on the scales and found wanting.” It is possible as a Christian at the Judgment Seat of Christ because of a wrong use of wealth which God has given us to face the Judgment Seat of Christ, weighed in the balances and found wanting because we haven’t been good stewards of that which the Lord has given.
A maturing Christian is one who is learning that he has a stewardship for what God has given him in the material realm. This is basically the teaching of this particular passage.
The question is how do I know I am in direct contact with God in the use of my wallet? I think if I have checked in with Him in the morning and I said, “Lord I’m available and what I have is yours and I want you to use me today” that I can count on Him as long as I am being submissive to direct me in that day in the decisions which I make. When the opportunities come my way to bring glory to His name through some experience with someone then I am trusting the Lord to direct me as to what I should do in that given situation, that is part of the good judgment that we talked about.
Let me conclude that wealth is an article which is used as a universal passport to everywhere except heaven and as a universal provider of everything. Happiness is when I recognize the fact that James tells me that wealth is temporary, and I am going to be held accountable for how I use it. Therefore, I need to be a good steward. Wealth in the life of a maturing Christian should never have first place because that belongs to the Lord and Him alone (STUDIES IN THE LIFE OF JAMES
STUDY NUMBER 10 – JAMES 5:1-6
DISCERN THE WAGES OF THE WEALTHY
P.24-25).
Illustration
Would you like to be rich? Very few would say, “Nah, it doesn’t interest me!” One wise guy said, “They say it’s better to be poor and happy than rich and miserable. But couldn’t something be worked out, such as being moderately wealthy and just a little moody?” (In Reader’s Digest, 9/82.)....The best sermon I’ve read on the problems of wealth was not a sermon, but a novel. It was not written by a Christian author, but by the famous writer, John Steinbeck. It is called The Pearl [Bantam Books]. It’s the story of a poor pearl diver who dreams of finding the perfect pearl. One day he actually finds it. The rest of the story unfolds how his once tranquil life turns into a growing nightmare as everyone else desperately tries to take his treasure from him. Every Christian would benefit from reading this powerful story!...Money is like a loaded gun: it can be extremely useful in certain situations, but you’ve got to use it carefully, or you may hurt others and yourself. Or, to use another analogy, money is like fire. Used properly and under control, fire is a helpful tool. But if it is used carelessly or with evil intent, it can become a powerful force that destroys both property and life. When combined with the fallen, greedy, selfish human heart, money can quickly corrupt. That’s why Jesus said (Mt 19:23-24+), after the rich young ruler walked away from salvation, “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” The disciples were astonished and said (Mat 19:25+), “Then who can be saved?” Jesus replied (Mat 19:26+), “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” In other words, it takes nothing less than the power of God to save us from the dangers of greed and selfishness that are bound up with wealth..(Steven Cole)
Let's Pray
Abba,
We acknowledge and praise you that you are the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. You never grow weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of your understanding (Isaiah 40:28 NLT).
Yes, we praise you.
You are forever.
We are in awe of you.
We humble ourselves before you in recognition that we—our very lives in this world—are temporary (James 4:14-17).
We humble ourselves in recognition that any earthly wealth we acquire is temporary—to be rotted, moth-eaten, and corroded (James 5:2-3).
We acknowledge and ask for your help to remember that the earth belongs to you along with everything in it, the world and all who live in it (Psalm 24:1).
Is there anything that I have put my trust in above you, Father? Is there a little “g” god that I have replaced you with, whether money or anything else?
Am I hurting others to get what I want (James 5:4-6)? Am I trusting in you with all of my needs? Am I seeking first your kingdom and righteousness (Matthew 6)?
Father, please search me and know my heart (Psalm 139). Show me if there is any offensive way in me, specifically in how I spend or gain or use money…
Forgive me for…
Forgive me for recently spending money on something I didn’t need. Thank you for the wise counsel I received on the matter to open my eyes and see, as well as for the ability to return it. Forgive my skewed notions of the difference between need and want. Please continue to show me the difference in order to use money to serve you all the more.
Help us to recognize that our talents, time, and resources are gifts from you, not personal possessions. Enable us to use them as tools to manage and lovingly share with others by the strength of the Holy Spirit. May we serve one another well with the gifts we have received as good stewards of your varied grace (1 Peter 4:10).
We praise you for the treasure we have in jars of clay (2 Corinthians 4:6-10). Help us not to lay up earthly treasures for ourselves, but to be rich toward you, God (Colossians 3:2; James 5:3; Luke 12:19-21)!
“Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the earth and the world, from beginning to end, you are God (Psalm 90:2 NLT).”
Yes! Amen! In the name of Jesus, the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End (Revelation 22:13). Amen!
Our Treasure
Last fall we memorized and meditated on 2 Corinthians 4:6-10. Here are the blogs that went with it. And below is the song I wrote to go with it for a women’s event at my church, performed in the video at the Battle4Children Charities event. It is slated to be the first song at our upcoming events! Praise God for music and how he uses it to saturate his word into our hearts and minds.
May this treasure we have in jars of clay, in us, show his surpassing power alone,
Laura
Saturday, August 1, 2026, 7-9pm
Acts of Grace Coffeehouse
1609 Woodburne Road
SUITE 403B (very back of complex)
LEVITTOWN, PA 19057
Monday, August 3, 2026, 7-9pm
Karen's Place Outdoor Concert
Doylestown Mennonite Church
590 N. Broad Street
Doylestown, PA 18901
Saturday, August 8, 2026, time 7 PM
Red's Room Online Concert
Red's Room Entertainment
Monday, August 31, 2026
Boardwalk Chapel Concert
Boardwalk Chapel,
4312 Boardwalk,
Wildwood, NJ 08260