This is a tough section because it really denounces the rich.  However, we must really take this as a piece of what James is saying, not as a whole thought.  James, in chapter 1, was saying that a common practice was for the people of the church to give the ‘rich’ people the greatest access to God...the best seats in church, preferential treatment from the leaders of the church, etc.  And, in this time, as probably has always been the case, riches were a status symbol and the rich had a different set of rules and laws and opportunity.  This was infuriating to Jesus, and it is something James wants to take on.  But any time we talk about money, we have to remember that it isn’t money that’s the issue, it is our hearts.  The always have been and there always will be people of great means that have God and people with great means who don’t, just as there are plenty of people with nothing materially who have God and many who don’t.  Money isn’t the issue.  But, money and resources DO create a different problem that people WITH these resources must learn to take...and that is self-sufficiency.  And, to be clear, I am one of the ‘haves’ by virtue of the fact that I am typing my journal entry on a computer in an air-conditioned home and I am recording the accompanying podcast on a microphone through that computer, using the Internet to post and share these things - I am a have.  If you are reading this, you are right there with me.

What’s James’ point then?  Well, I believe his point is that he wants us to know that the folks who are rich and who lean on their own resources and their own sufficiency, without relying on God and leaning on Him as if He could take it all away in a moment’s notice (because He can), those people stand to face judgement.  God wants us to trust Him, to lean on Him, to rely on Him, and to look to Him for our provision.  That provision includes money, but it includes so much more.  So, even in light of the fact that I live as a ‘have’, as do you, in this world, I must cultivate that ability to desire God’s presence and to lean on God’s provision and plan for my life.  Money is a ‘tangible’ resource, we can see it and touch it and experience it directly, so it is just the easiest thing for us to point to in speaking of God’s provision...but God offers so much more.

Today I pray that God would show me all of the ways He is providing for me, that He would help me see all of the ways that I am blessed apart from money and material things...I pray God would help me to appreciate how thoroughly He has ingrained Himself into my life, so that I might be more trusting, and more reliant on Him going forward.