Suffering and sick saints
Key Verses: 4, 9, 12,
16, 20
Wealth
can be a wonderful thing. It can also be a curse. James nails the wealthy
recipients of this letter on one particular area. They were not compensating
their workers sufficiently. The wealthy have a responsibility to share their
wealth. This is not a government program that redistributes our wealth. This is
a voluntary Christian act where we recognize that what we have is from God, and
we need to be responsible stewards of the wealth. This includes taking care of
those who helped us gain our wealth. We don’t own our wealth, God does.
It can be
hard to remain patient over many years. We want results now, don’t we! We want
the answer to that prayer for a spouse, a child, an illness, to be answered.
Sometimes we hurt we want the answer so much. The readers of James’ letter were
getting impatient for Jesus second coming. They wanted their suffering to end. Their
expectation had been that Jesus would return in their lifetimes. But this was
not to be. We are still waiting.
When we
get impatient, we often get short with each other, discharging our frustration
with some outside event on those closest to us. Don’t do it. We are encouraged
to follow the example of the Old Testament prophets. They endured suffering and
waited for God to fulfill His promises. God has fulfilled His promises. He will
continue to do so. We need to do the same.
Our
promises don’t need to be “Cross my heart and hope to die” kind of promises. As
a Jesus-follower, our word needs to be solid. We need to be able to just say
“Yes” or “No” and then follow through. There is something to be said about
those cultures that run on a handshake. We used to be able to count on
someone’s word. Now the lawyers have gotten involved because people wanted to
back out of the agreements they made. We look for wiggle room. Keep your word.
Jesus-followers
need to be able to come together without barriers between us. All of us sharing
in each other’s lives, bearing each other’s burdens, caring for the needs that
are present. We can live with a clean slate.
Prayer is
a powerful tool. When we pray what God directs us to pray, we can be sure
things will happen. God prompted and Elijah prayed and it happened: no rain.
God prompted again, and it rained. We can do something more powerful than this.
We can help a sinner turn from their destructive path and be restored. We can
be part of an eternal event.