The Haves and the Have-Nots

“Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. . . . Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains.” –James 5:1; 6

There is something very appealing about wealth. There is a sense of power when we can totally disregard any concern for the cost of anything and simply live the way that we want to live. But yet wealth never lasts. Either we’ll lose it here in this world, or we won’t be able to take it with us.

One of the more interesting stories over the past couple of months was that Ed McMahon, Johnny Carson’s long-time sidekick, was going to lose his house because he couldn’t make his house payment. The 80+ year old McMahon explained that he hadn’t been able to work lately because of a neck injury. He was several hundred thousand dollars behind on his payments. But just how long did he think he was going to be working anyway? I mean, was he planning on retiring at 95? It just didn’t make sense.

James chapter 5 begins with a word of warning to the rich, but continues with a word of comfort and hope to the Jewish-Christian believers, most of who would have been impoverished. On the surface, this looks like a story of the haves and the have-nots. And it is, but not like you might think. You see our definition of the haves are those who have financial wealth. But in God’s eyes, those who have nothing, yet have him, have everything. It is the rich who are the have-nots, as they have so often found comfort in their wealth and cannot see their need for God.

Are you content being a ‘have’ if your definition of ‘have’ has nothing to do with wealth, but everything to do with God?