Do you need encouragement to stand firm for the Lord? Today’s reading in the book of James is for you. James is writing to the believing poor and the persecuted. He encourages them to finish strong by being patient and not grumbling. They are to keep the Lord’s coming in mind. One day soon He will return and make all things right.

James gives the example of a farmer waiting for his crops to grow (v. 7). The farmer depends on the early and late rains. Unlike farmers today, farmers in those times were at the mercy of the weather and could only pray, watch, and wait. James wants his readers to be patient, knowing that the Lord is near to them also. When He comes, it will be worth the wait.

James addresses our attitude while we are waiting. We should not be grumbling. It’s easy to blame others when things aren’t working out for us. We might be tempted to think that life would be easier if someone else did this or that. For instance, “If Jacob wasn’t so lazy, he could help me with this.” Or, “If Becky got her act together, we would have done better.”

If patience is the ability to wait on God, perseverance is the ability to trust God despite the obstacles. Grumbling and complaining indicates our lack of both. James reminds us that not only is the Lord coming (v. 7) and near (v. 8), but the Lord, our Judge, is standing at the door (v. 9), listening to all that we have to say. So, we need both patience and perseverance while we wait. Job is highlighted for his perseverance through trial. Although he had no indication that things would ever get better, he trusted in the Lord.

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While the Bible does not declare that wealth is evil, Scripture does shine a spotlight on the dangers of money and our relationship with it. In James chapter 5, the author addresses wealthy landlords who were oppressing their workers. “Now listen,” he writes in verse 1, saying that they will soon “weep and wail” because of the misery that is coming. James describes how they look from God’s perspective. “Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes” (vv. 2–3).

On the day of judgment, their corroded gold and silver “will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days” (v. 3). Why were they meeting such harsh judgment? The answer is in verse 4: “The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.” Did you catch that? Even their wages were crying out to God!

These rich oppressors had lived in luxury and self-indulgence, treating themselves to every pleasure (v. 5). Because they ignored the needs of the poor, they were sentenced to death (v. 6). Jesus told of a wealthy man named Lazarus and a beggar who sat by his gate, waiting for table scraps. After the beggar died, the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. Then the rich man died also. Jesus said, “In Hades, where he was in torment, [the rich man] looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue’” (Luke 16:23-24). “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony’” (v. 25).

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While in college, my brother visited a friend in Louisiana where they went crabbing. When his friend put the first crab in a large bucket, he put a top over the bucket to keep it from getting out. But when he caught the second crab, he left the top off. Evidently, every time a crab crawled near the top, the other crab would pull it down and get on top. This is the perfect picture of slander. We tear one another down to try to gain a position of authority.

James warns that there is no place for one-upmanship in the body of Christ. In yesterday’s reading, we were told: “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up” (4:10). In today’s passage, James instructs, “Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another” (v. 11). Slander builds us up by putting others down.

When we do this, we make ourselves a judge over them. But more than that, we have become a judge of the Law. James picks up a theme from earlier in his letter. “If you really keep the royal Law found in Scripture, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers” (2:8–9). When we slander our brother or sister, we are not only breaking the Law (by not loving them) but we are setting ourselves above the Law by acting as a judge.

A good judge has a full knowledge of the law. A qualified criminal law judge can assess a person’s behavior based upon criminal law. A qualified civil law judge can assess based upon civil law. But only a qualified judge of God’s divine Law can properly assess a person’s behavior, motives, and intent, and that Judge (who wrote and knows the Law fully) is not us.

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