Journal ~ JamesSample

 PROPRIETY, PATIENCE, & PRAYERS 

There is nothing wrong with being rich. There is nothing wrong with having the ability to make money by the bundles. It is certainly God’s given ability to have the understanding of where business is booming and where money could be made.

The rebuke in this passage is not on the ability to make so much money but on how the money was made. Was it made out of squeezing the little people? Was it made out of underpaying workers? Was it made out of cheating the weak and the poor?

As I am writing this, I realize that often money is made when the other party is oblivious or has no bargaining power. Those who are poor and weak often times do not have much to offer when they come looking for work. They were simply hungry and desperate for their next meal. Unfortunately, those who are poor and needy often do not know what their rights are. They do not know what their value is. They do not know what a fair wage is. They are oblivious and they are easy pickings.

“Look!”, James writes. “The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.” James likened this act of treading the poor to murder. This act of taking advantage of weak people is a serious crime. This act will be brought to justice.