Monday 27 April, 2015

5 Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. 2 Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. 4 Look! 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. 5 You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.

This passage reminds us that we need to be true to God in our motives. It is very easy to want nice things and to work towards achieving them but we need to do it the right way. We need to love our neighbours and love God with all our hearts. When we treat other people poorly just so we can have what we want should feel wrong and it should make us think twice about whether the things are what God would want for us.

The nice things are not the problem – it is how we go about obtaining them and why we want them that may be a big mess. If we want them to fill spaces inside that God should fill then that can lead us to make very poor choices. If we bring that idea of God’s love for us and the love He asks us to have for Him and those He puts in our lives to the front of our minds each day it can help us to pick up when we are zooming down the wrong path more quickly.

Lord help us to keep a good eye on our motives, to notice when we are feeling like it might be ok to ignore or mistreat someone (even when they may never know). Help us to pull ourselves up and to talk to You about the situation – asking for Your help and wisdom to bring our motives back to where You would want them to be. Thanks

Written by Therese Manning