God sees things a little differently than we do. Most of us long after riches, but the Bible teaches something a little different. Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, [10] but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away.
[James 1:9-10 NKJV] In our society, well most societies, the rich are looked up to, yet earthly riches are fleeting. James is not teaching that being rich is sinful. The Bible does not teach that money is the problem, but the love of money is.
For the love of money is a root of all [kinds of] evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. [1 Timothy 6:10 NKJV] The problem with having a lot of wealth is that we start trusting in the money and not in God. Faith flies out the luxury car window.
We don’t need God; we have the money to take care of our problems when they arise. Faith shrinks, and the wealthy spend more time trying to hold on to their wealth then they spend growing closer to God. Wealth also causes many people to develop a superiority complex.
This is the real problem with which James will deal with in his letter. The rich thought they were something and the poor were somehow less than them. We will see in verses to come that this problem had crept into the churches.
Christians were catering to the rich and neglecting the poor. The problem with earthly wealth is that it is fleeting. We can take nothing from this world.
We are all.
