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Devotion

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A Caution Ahead

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“Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven.’" Matthew 19:23, NIV

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What defines wealth in life is something that I wondered in the past. It seems to always change for people. In a USA Today issue it was said that they asked the same question: “How rich is rich? According to a survey of people who ought to know, the answer is $1 million to $5 million in assets. Investment managers Neuberger & Bergman sponsored the survey of people who stand to give or receive inheritances (median household assets: $500,000). Paradoxically, 55% of those whose assets ranged from $1 million to $5 million don't consider themselves wealthy.” 1

What categorizes a person as wealthy has always been uncertain. However, the possible problems are also there, just like for the church in Jerusalem. Today as we continue in James’s epistle we see the church in Jerusalem was being admonished to live right before God especially the wealthy interacting with them because of the problems it was causing.

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Big Idea: Imbalanced Wealth Can Cause Problems in Life – So Be Cautious.

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That’s a shocking thing to consider, especially when one thinks about what we’ve usually heard about wealth, or having a lot of money. Because usually, it’s common to think that money will solve all our problems and worries will dissipate because of wealth. Now, we saw earlier in James that the wealth and status were causing issues in their worship services and how they interacted in church meetings. Because if you remember the ushers gave the best seats to those who were rich and had poorer people sitting on the floor. Consequently, he is once again addressing the well-off because they were doing other stuff again to poorer Christians. However, this was a warning, things to be cautious of that they were going to experience issues.

Verse1 says: “Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you.” (NIV) So, what was misery was he talking about and why tell them to weep and wail? He was most likely addressing the misery that could come down the road if they didn’t repent in a larger sense. However, don’t make the mistake and think that it can’t cause problems now for the wealthy person. The friction that it was causing was obviously enough for James to address it.

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Insight: Imbalanced Wealth Can Cause Problems Now – but also in the Future

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Wealth seems to have this effect what a person receives from God concerning faith in the long-term also. Excessive wealth can cause a person to miss out in what a person believes. Matthew 19:23-24 shows: “Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven.’ Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” (NIV) He was probably referring to the numbing, self-destructive mindsets that can set in. Money can cause things like, self-dependance, pride, and greed, among other things, that all lead a person away from the giver of all things. How many wealthy people acknowledge and glorify God with their fortunes? Not nearly as many as it should be…

Martin Luthur said it like this: “Poverty hath slain a thousand, but riches have slain ten thousand. They are very uncertain..” 2

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Challenge: Are we striving to live right before God? What defines too much wealth for my circumstances? What attitude have I held towards money?

Pray: Asking God to empower us to keep money in its proper perspective

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Going Deeper:

The NIV Study Bible Notes says:

“Rich. Interpreters generally understand the rich condemned here to be unbelievers (as in 2:2,6), for James warns them to repent and weep because of the coming misery. In this view, verses 1–6 are similar to OT declarations of judgment against pagan nations, interspersed in books otherwise addressed to God’s people (Isa 13–23; Jer 46–51; Eze 25–32; Am 1:3—2:16; Zep 2:4–15). A few suggest that the rich are Christians, given the warnings already given in 2:2,6. In this view, the exhortation to repent is in keeping with other calls to repentance given to believers (cf. 2Co 7:8–10” 3

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Devotion written by Pastor Frank & Samuel Gervasi

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1. USA Today, November 11, 1991, D1., https://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/w/wealth.htm, as accessed on 01/31/2026.

2. A Puritan’s Mind, https://www.apuritansmind.com/stewardship/shortquotesonwealth, 01/31/26.)

3. NIV Bible Study Notes, BibleGatewayPlus, www.biblegateway.com, as accessed on 01/31/2025.

4. Soundtrack, King of Glory, Matt Powell-Third Day.