Your wealth has rotted and moths have eaten your clothes. James 5:2
I have been to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. There I saw the famous Hope Diamond. I was underwhelmed. Much ado has been made over its acquisition and possession. I expected something tremendous to occur when I gazed upon its magnificence?! Nothing, not even a tingle. There is sits, lit and posing for your camera, NOT in Heaven (or the other place) with the person that unearthed it, nor with any that were privileged enough to call it their own. Proof enough for me that you can’t take it with you and it won’t save you from the same end as every other human… death.
James, the brother of Jesus, speaks a great deal about social injustice, the exploitation of the poor and marginalized at the hands of the rich and entitled. However, James was not encouraging the church to strive for a utopian society, but rather, to guard itself against indulgences that take rather than give. Wealth is a false sense of security. Don’t be caught in its grip.
The only means of salvation is Christ, but we are His Body, therefore, we represent Him to a lost and broken world. We must love all and serve others. There is a corporate Holiness expected of the Body of Christ, but it must begin with the determined ethical standard of the individual that knows Christ. Set your eyes on Him and He will show you His ways.
Love,
Gretchen