Christian Devotional – May 2, 2023

James, Day 9

Is it wrong to be wealthy? No. Is it wrong to be poor? No. Read James 5:1-6.

The quantity of money that an individual has or does not have is never what determines what is in or not sin when it comes to money. The issue is much more about how people use the money they have and why they want more money. In the United States, money is often seen as a means of power, and people who want power typically want more money to be able to exert more power over others.

James is reminding the people here that often, the rich people in that time were using their wealth to oppress others. Instead of demonstrating the love, glory, and grace of God, people were trusting in their money and that was resulting in oppression of those who didn’t have much money.

As believers, we must understand where our power comes from, and that’s from God. Money does not give us power, just like the lack of money does not mean we are powerless. When we have Christ, we have everything we need. God is our total source of power. Anything that we have: money, time, resources, all of these are simply a way to be able to glorify God and to allow him to demonstrate his power through us.