James, the
“servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ”, continued
to challenge the“rich” people among the “twelve
tribes scattered abroad”. Though these “rich men” had
gathered and stored their “gold and silver”, James
promised their “treasures” would be “cankered and
rusted” because they stole them from their “laborers”.
These “laborers” called out to God, and He heard them, and
in the fifth chapter and the fifth verse of his letter, James shared
how these “rich men” lived in “pleasure and
wantonness” at their expense where we read:
You have
lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton;
you have
nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
The
verse begins, “You have lived in
pleasure on the earth, and been wanton;” James
began with the words, “You have lived
in pleasure”
which is one Greek word “tryphaō”
and
means “”to live delicately, luxuriously and soft” “on
the earth”
which refers to “the inhabited country or land which is enclosed
within fixed boundaries such as a tract of land, territory or
region”, “and been wanton” which
means “living a luxurious and voluptuous life such as one who gives
himself to pleasure”.
The
verse goes on to say, “you have nourished your hearts, as
in a day of slaughter.” James
continued, “you have nourished”
which means “supported, fed, given suck to and fattened” “your
hearts” or “the center of
all physical and spiritual life and the soul or mind as the fountain
and seat of the thoughts, passions, desires, appetites, affections,
purposes and endeavors”, “as in a day”
or “the natural day or the interval between sunrise and sunset as
distinguished from and contrasted with the night or the appointed
day” “of slaughter” which
means “butchery and destruction such as when animals for food or
sacrifice were killed”. These “rich men”
only embellished themselves for a day of “destruction and
sacrifice”.
When
we think through these words of James, we see how those who are
“rich” in this world's goods are unaware of their future.
Like cattle that are “fattened” for the slaughter house, so those
who are “rich” by taking advantage of others are as well.
Jesus Christ desires for us to be “rich” in those things
which are “eternal” and not just in “temporal” things. Only
“eternal” things will travel with us when we leave this world,
and rather than being “fattened” for the “slaughter”
here on earth, let us have a mind to be “rich toward God”
as Jesus warned:
Next
time James shares about how they have “condemned
and
killed the just”,
so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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