Day 192

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.