how you get it is important...

another thing that james says GOD is concerned about with our wealth is how we got it. look at james 5.4 (ms), all the workers you've exploited and cheated cry out for judgment. the groans of the workers you used and abused are a roar in the ears of the MASTER avenger.

now in the time of james people were hired at the beginning of each day. they would work all day and at the end of the day they were given their pay. these day laborers lived on the verge of starvation. there were no contracts, no labor unions to protect them and if a boss wanted to rip them off, he could. he through some technicality could say ''i'm not going to pay you. i don't like your work'' or whatever and then not pay them. he would keep there money and get their work. he would get rich at the expense of other people.

now if they did that even for a day, literally the worker and his family would not eat. that is why the scripture again and again insists on the prompt payment of wages to the workman.

both luke 10.7 and 1 timothy 5.18 (ncv) says, a worker should be given his pay. and james here is dealing with deep emotion against this unjust way of accumulating wealth. and we must not forget that the groans of the workers you used and abused are a roar in the ears of the MASTER avenger.

let me give you another way to look at it. when an employer doesn't pay a worker what he should be paid then he is stealing from him. and i think one of the big 10 had something to say about that. and their punishment was death.

james is saying here that people are more important than money.

it seems in some ways that we as today's CHRISTians are on a different side from what CHRIST would be on if HE were here. that may be why many look at us in the church and look at what they perceive CHRIST is like and wonder what happened. somehow we have missed something or maybe we are looking to the wrong thing to worship and to give our allegiance.

all the workers you've exploited and cheated cry out for judgment. the groans of the workers you used and abused are a roar in the ears of the MASTER avenger.

just some thoughts from the front porch...