Read | James 5:1–6
Come now, you rich people, weep and wail over the miseries that are coming on you. Your wealth has rotted and your clothes are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up treasure in the last days. Look! The pay that you withheld from the workers who mowed your fields cries out, and the outcry of the harvesters has reached the ears of the Lord of Armies. You have lived luxuriously on the earth and have indulged yourselves. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned, you have murdered the righteous, who does not resist you.
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This passage exposes the rot of greed, self-indulgence, and injustice. Where do your use of money, power, comfort, or influence need to be brought back into a right relationship with God and neighbor?
How might God be calling you not only to repent of selfishness, but to take reconciling steps through generosity, justice, confession, or repair?
Focus
Listen to this podcast with Dr. John Inazu on justice.
Reconciliation includes repair. Ask God to show you one way your selfishness, comfort, or neglect has harmed others. Then take one tangible step to make things more right: give, serve, speak up, or make amends.
Pray
Ask God to reconcile your life to his justice, mercy, and generosity.
Going Deeper
If you are also following the BibleProject’s One Story That Leads to Jesus reading plan, complete today’s reading.