SPIRITUAL
DIARY
Date: 11-04-03
My
Worship Time Focus: The way the rich use
their wealth
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference: James 5:3-5
1.
Message of the verse: “3 Your gold and your silver have rusted; and
their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire.
It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure! 4
Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has
been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did
the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. 5 You have lived luxuriously on the earth and
led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of
slaughter.” (NASB) “3
Your gold and silver have become worthless. The very wealth you were
counting on will eat away your flesh in hell. This treasure you have
accumulated will stand as evidence against you on the day of judgment. 4 For
listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay.
The wages you held back cry out against you. The cries of the reapers have
reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.
5 You have spent your years on
earth in luxury, satisfying your every whim. Now your hearts are nice and fat,
ready for the slaughter.” (NLT)
These rich
that James is writing to not only got their wealth in a sinful way, but the
also used it in a sinful way.
1.
They
stored it up (5:3). “Your gold and your silver have
rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh
like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure!”
It is not wrong to store money or to invest money for Jesus
gave a parable to say that it was okay.
Matthew 25:27 “Then you ought to have put my
money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with
interest.” There is a difference
to saving up money and hoarding money, and that difference is in the way you
look at it from your heart. Also you
must be open to the leading of the Lord in how you spend your money. Jesus spoke of this also in Matthew 6. “19 ¶ "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures
upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and
steal. 20 "But lay up for yourselves treasures in
heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in
or steal; 21 for where your treasure is,
there will your heart be also.” Dr.
Wiersbe gives this advice about storing up treasures in heaven: “To
lay up treasures in heaven means to use all that we have as stewards of God’s
wealth. You and I may possess many
things, but we do not won them. God is
the Owner of everything, and we are His stewards.” If we as believers
look at life the way the Bible describes it, that this earth is not our home,
then we will get the proper prospective on how to live our lives. We are to live our lives in a way that they
are controlled by the Spirit and the Word of God to bring honor and glory to
the Lord in all that we do, and that includes on how we use the things that are
given to us by the Lord.
2.
They
kept others from benefiting from it (5:4). “Behold, the pay of
the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries
out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the
ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.” As
a good steward of the Lord we are to be responsible to pay those that we owe
money to, and not give into our old nature and keep back what we truly owe
them. An example of being a good
steward is seen in the book of Genesis in the life of Joseph.
3. They lived in luxury (5:5). “You have
lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have
fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.” We only have to look
at the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ to get a proper prospective on
this. He gives this teaching just before
he spoke the parable about the rich man who was going to build more barns to
hold his riches. “Then he said, ‘Beware! Don’t be greedy for what you don’t have. Real
life is not measured by how much we own.”
Again this is a heart issue, and believers must have their heart
right before God so that they can do things that are pleasing to the Lord. This was one of the reasons that Jesus was so
hard on the Pharisees of His day, they did not have their hearts right, they
thought they were so much better before God because they thought that following
a set of rules was pleasing to the Lord, but sadly it was not what the Lord
wanted. As Dr. Wiersbe said about these
men that James was writing to “they
were feeding themselves on their riches and starving themselves to death.” Paul gave Timothy some good advice about the
rich, “Tell those who are rich in this world not to be
proud and not to trust in their money, which will soon be gone. But their trust
should be in the living God, who richly gives us all we need for our
enjoyment.18 Tell them to use their
money to do good. They should be rich in good works and should give generously
to those in need, always being ready to share with others whatever God has
given them. By doing this they will be
storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may
take hold of real life. Timothy, guard
what God has entrusted to you. Avoid godless, foolish discussions with those
who oppose you with their so-called knowledge.
Some people have wandered from the faith by following such foolishness.
May God’s grace be with you all.”
(NLT)
2. Spiritual meaning for my life today: I believe that the Lord has used this lesson
to step on the toes of my heart concerning how I look at money. There are times when I spend too much, and
there are times when I am cheap, and there are times when I do the right things
with what the Lord has entrusted to me.
Since our life savings has been in limbo for the last seven months the
Lord has taught me much about money and how I am to look at it. I only hope that these lessons that I have
been taught will continue to change my life so that I will always use the
things that the Lord has given me for His honor and glory.
The Word of God was convicting to my heart, and it also was
a great challenge to my heart as I studied it this morning.
My
Steps of Faith Today: I
trust the Lord to handle this trial that we are going through with our
investments in a way that will be good for us and will bring honor and glory to
His name.
Memory verse for the week:
James 1:6
6.
But let him ask in faith without doubting, for the one who
doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
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