James 5:12-20

12But above all [things], my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath; but let your yes be [a simple] yes, and your no be [a simple] no, so that you may not sin and fall under condemnation.

13Is anyone among you afflicted (ill-treated, suffering evil)? He should pray. Is anyone glad at heart? He should sing praise [to God].

14Is anyone among you sick? He should call in the church elders (the spiritual guides). And they should pray over him, anointing him wit oil in the Lord's name.

15And the prayer [that is] of faith will save him who is sick, and the Lord will restore him; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

16Confess to one another therefore your faults (your slips, your false steps, your offences, your sins) and pray [also] for one another, that you may be healed and restored [to a spiritual tone of mind and heart].  The earnest (heart-felt,continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available.

17Elijah was a human being with a nature such as we have [with feelings, affections, and a constitution like ours]; and he prayed earnestly for it to rain, and no rain fell on the earth for three years and six months.

18And [then] he prayed again and the heavens supplied rain and the land produced its crops [as usual].

19[My] brethren, if anyone among you strays from the Truth and falls into error and another [person] brings him back [to God],

20Let the [latter] one be sure that whoever turns a sinner from his evil course will save [that one's] soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins [procure the pardon of the many sins committed by the convert].

                          - James 5:12-20

Patience is something that God teaches us. Some seem highly endowed with it and some seem to have none of it all.But the waiting period still frustrates us sometime or the other. It is this period of waiting where we are expectant of the Lord for what we had asked for and is yet to come. It is a period where we say, "Lord, I know that You have listened to my prayers and know the needs and desires of my heart and that You are not ignoring me but instead, taking care of me. I believe that You will bring it to pass in Your Own good time. Meanwhile, continue enabling me and

James 5: 7- 11

7So be patient, brethren, [as you wait] till the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits expectantly for the precious harvest from the land. [See how] he keeps up his patient [vigil] over it until it receives the early and late rains.

8So you also must be patient. Establish your hearts [strengthen and confirm them in the final certainty], for the coming of the Lord is very near.

9Do not complain, brethren, against one another, so that you [yourselves] may not be judged. Look! The judge is [already] standing at the very door.

10[As] an example of suffering and ill-treatment together with patience, brethren, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord [as His messengers].

11You know how we call those blessed (happy) who were steadfast [who endured]. You have heard of the endurance of Job, and you have seen the Lord's [purpose and how He richly blessed him in the] end, inasmuch as the Lord is full of pity and compassion and tenderness and mercy.

                           - James 5:7-11 (Amplified Bible)

So far we have learned through the previous verses of James 5 that lust of Money is corruptible and leads us to sin in many different ways. And those that have fallen, do not go unnoticed by God.

But why do we desire money, in the first place? This is an important question to note. Just take,say, a 2 year old kid. Does he desire money? Does he care for more than his mother's love and and his father's care? He is absolutely carefree. The reason we care/crave after money so much is that

James 5:4-6

Yesterday, we have taken a look at verses of chapter 5: 1-3 of the book of James teaching us about the consequences of lusting after worldly riches.Today we shall focus on the continuing verses 4-6.

[But] look! [Here are] the wages that you have withheld by fraud from the laborers who have reaped your fields, crying out [for vengeance]; and the cries of the harvesters have come to the ears of the Lord of hosts.

[Here] on earth you have abandoned yourselves to soft (prodigal) living and to [the pleasures of] self-indulgence and self-gratification. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.

You have condemned and have murdered the righteous (innocent man). [while] he offers no resistance to you.

                    - James 5:4-6(Amplified Bible)

Here James speaks of the evils of going after worldly pleasures. Anything and everything in this life is sure to affect us. But it very much depends on the choice we make - whether we choose to go on the right path or the wrong. And going after money is surely treading on dangerous waters. Why? Here in James 5:4, the Lord clearly shows us what the nature of the people changes to when they crave riches - they, in the greed of wanting more money, not only pile up their own wealth but also hold back the wages and salaries of those who have earnestly worked for them. How many people do you know that do this? When we enter the commerical street, we get to see many examples as

James 5: 1-3 Being filthy rich and true riches

Being filthy rich and true riches

 

COME NOW, you rich [people], weep aloud and lament over the miseries (the woes) that are surely coming upon you.

Your abundant wealth has rotted and is ruined,and your [many] garments have become moth-eaten.

Your gold and silver are completely rusted through, and their rust will be testimony against you and it will devour your flesh as if it were fire. You will have heaped together treasure for the last days.

                        - James 5: 1-3 (Amplified Bible)

James here is calling upon all those who are filthy rich -  to cry,wail and weep over their miseries that are going to come upon them. These 3 verses to me sounded very harsh. Whats wrong in being rich, was the thought that came to me. Whats wrong in gaining money? Is it wrong to enjoy a luxurious life? To buy Italian leather than cheap clothing( on sale)? Here are the verses that impart more wisdom on this subject:

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can’t serve both God and Mammon.

                                                                                          - Matthew 6:24

When we have money, or a lot of money we fall in the temptation of being wooed by it. See, we have been warned of idolatry. And idolizing and relying on money is displeasing to God. Idolatry in any form is a sin of which the consequences we must face, as are mentioned in James 5:1-3. And when money rules us (becomes your master), we have given the Lordship of God to money. In that state, no matter how much money we have, we are never satisfied. We tend to fill the emptiness of our souls with our bank balance. Not possible! And we do, sooner or later, despise God for admonishing us about the evil of greed and the corruption of money.

It is only God that deserves the rightful Lordship in our lives. Not money. What we can do is repent for our sinful behaviour and lust for riches and God surely forgives us in Christ Jesus. Those who are reliant on God, with a humble and meek attitude, will receive not only riches but also glory and everlasting life! Now that's what I call a good offer! When we are in God, we will enjoy the riches He provides for us, but we won't become slaves of money. We are also satisfied because He gives us true satisfaction, happiness and joy to our lives. Thus with whatever little or more we have, we glorify God.

We shall continue on the this topic tomorrow reading verses 4 - 6 where we come to know the corruption of money and how it changes us.

God bless you.

James 5: Part 1: A teaching in patience.

 James chapter 5 is one of my most favourite chapters of the entire Bible. It teaches us the basics of something we have a lot of trouble doing and being: PATIENT. They say Patience is a virtue but the Bible teaches us about patience, what it really means, and what to do during the 'waiting period'.

I know patience is a corny word that most of use to calm and console others. But do we know what it means? OK, lets take an example. Imagine you are waiting in  a municipality office waiting for your turn to arrive. It looks like its going to be a long day because the line in-front of you just doesn't seem to end! What would you normally do? Grind your teeth, roll your eyes and even pass comments on how the system works saying, "tsk tsk .. the authorities just don't know how to do their jobs...what are they paid for? to be lazy???!" Despite of all this, you still have to wait,otherwise how else will you get your paper work done? At the end of the day, the task is accomplished. You can tell me you waited for hours but were you patient?

What's the difference between plainly waiting and being patient, you ask?

Its this:

James 2:1

MY BRETHREN, pay no servile regard to people [show no prejudice, no partiality]. Do not [attempt to] hold and practice the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ [the Lord] of glory [together with snobbery]!

                          - James 2:1 (Amplified Bible)

According to the Oxford dictionary, the word 'servile' means '' or 'of or characteristic of a slave or slaves'. So, James here is telling us to pay no attention to people where you have to please them to the point where you behave or acquire the characteristics of a slave. In simpler words, don't be partial towards anyone. Don't be a doormat to the rich, nor reject those that are poor. The Lord never was nor is partial. He loves everyone and is no respecter of persons.
           
                  The current world system promotes gradations in the society - be it that of caste, financial status, power, gender etc. When we come across a rich man, we tend to honour him with the best refreshments of the house, providing him with the best food, talking with him in the most polished manner and so on and so forth. But the same thing, if a poor man rings the doorbell, how do we treat him? With a