¹Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. ²Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. ³Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure!

James lets loose a scathing rebuke on, and warning to, the selfishly wealthy. His prophetic pronouncement, as though their judgment has already been determined and the consequences already meted out, is reminiscent of the woes Jesus satirically pronounced, “But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full” (Luke 6:24).

Wealth in itself is not sinful, for it is the “love of money,” not the money itself, which is “the root of all sorts of evil” (1 Tim. 6:10). But we need to be aware of the potentially blinding effect money can have on our spiritual walk. Hoarding riches for selfish reasons turns the eyes of our hearts from heavenly treasures by focusing on temporary, earthly treasures (Matt. 6:19–21). Further, wealth can easily tempt us to embrace foolish, destructive values: “But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction” (1 Tim. 6:9).

Yet none of us can escape the notion that we would be better off if we just had a little more money. How many of us struggle with financial pressures of various sorts? James calls us to take this warning soberly by seeing the long-term problems with letting wealth (or the lack of it) dominate our lives, emotions, and decisions. So he says, “weep and howl for your miseries.” Though this certainly brings to mind the imagery of hell that the lost will experience (Matt. 13:32), James is not warning his reader that their eternal salvation is at risk of being lost. But he does use that imagery to describe the experience of finally realizing in the end (“in the last days”) that a life consumed by the desire for wealth will result in loss of life as God intended it.

In telling his readers to “weep and howl,” James circles back to the warning he made earlier to those who live as friends of the world, “Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom” (James 4:9). This is a radical repudiation of the world’s value system, especially when it comes to material possessions and economic power. He is not speaking of political or economic systems of government, but rather individual behavior and attitudes. Christians are called to live in different political climates, but our values should never be determined by outward rules and regulations but by inner Christlike hearts. This can never be legislated.

Lord, help me to consistently resist the temptation of the desire for more money.