I think it's possible to be too rich. We talked a little about it this morning, including the reality that none of us are at serious risk of committing this particular sin.
In James 5:1-6 he says their cloth is moth eaten and their silver and gold tarnished because they have hoarded wealth. The moth holes and tarnish are because they have fabric, clothes and precious metals they never use - never could use because they own so much of it.
Wealth is intended to be functional. The believer who has wealth is told to be generous and willing to share (1 Tim. 6:18). That is, what he has beyond reasonable needs and wants should be used for benevolent purposes. Idle wealth - wealth in such excess that it can't reasonably be used by the individual - should be shared with those in need. Anything else is hoarding.
Of course if someone set their mind to it they could probably find a way to spend almost any amount of money. Would that make it OK. Nope, that would make it self-indulgent (see James 5:5) an equal sin. "You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter."
A couple of nights ago I posed the question, "What is the greatest social evil of contemporary culture?" I was originally thinking it was the imbalance in our health care system where the quality of the health care a person receives too often depends on their ability to pay (or their insurance company's willingness to pay). But I wonder if it isn't broader than that - the idle wealth of the excessively rich while the poor go without basic services. I know that sounds, what, downright liberal of me. But maybe it's also biblical. What else would you do with James 5:1-6?
These are indeed the dog days of summer. Baseball, the only major sport currently in season, is a bore, at least on TV. Interminable time between pitches, longer between batters...it's almost worse than soccer on the snooze scale. At least we've got the Olympics next month. But even that spectacle has lost much of its luster for me. Remember when Olympians were just like us but with extra skill and dedication? Now they train in scientific wonder zones, wear suits engineered in cutting edge labs and eat only what a bevy of nutritionists have determined will maximize their athletic prowess. Jesse Owens wouldn't be impressed.
ATM's have security cameras. This ATM clip is one for the archives.
ATM destruction
"No man ever listened himself out of a job." - Calvin Coolidge
I'm whooped.
1 comment:
I really don't think the primary message of James here is the amount of wealth one has. Along with hoarding, James also indicts the rich for fraudulently witholding pay and for murder. I am also reminded of Jesus' parable of the talents (Matthew 25, see also Luke 19).
It seems to me that James is denouncing corruption as much as anything else. And when you refer to sharing wealth and using it for benevolent purposes, what do you mean? I think that using wealth to start a company, provide products and services that benefit others, and jobs for those who need them is benevolent in itself. This could be infered from Jesus' parables when the Master offers praise for those who invested the money and scorn for he who hid it away (hoarded?). the investments benefit others, whereas wealth hoarded away simply rots.
And as for benevolence, it too can corrupt both the giver and the one who receives it. Benevolence can produce sloth or waste in the receiver (check out obesity rates for those on food assistance) and cause the giver to feel redeemed by the act of benevolence.
It seems to me that what's at the heart of this passage in James is stewardship. Someone who has been blessed with material resources is not exercising wise administration of them if those resources are moth-eaten and rusting in a vault somewhere. Good stewardship is forged by the humble admission that God is sovereign over all: He that giveth can also taketh away.
Post a Comment