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James 5:2-3
2 Your [humon] riches [ploutos] are corrupted [sepo], and [kai]
your [humon] garments [himation] are [ginomai] motheaten [setobrotos].
3 Your [humon] gold [chrusos] and [kai] silver [arguros] is cankered [katioo]; and [kai] the rust [ios] of them [autos] shall be [esomai] a witness [marturion] against [eis] you [humin], and [kai] shall eat [phago] your [humon] flesh [sarx] as it were [hos] fire [pur]. Ye have heaped
treasure together [thesaurizo] for [en] the last [eschatos] days [hemera].KJV-Interlinear
2 Your riches have rotted and
your garments have become moth-eaten. 3
Your 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! NASB
Everyone has access
to money or wealth in one way or another.Obviously some have greater access than others.But either by manual labor, innovation and
invention, inheritance, investments, settlements, or just plain luck of one
sort or another, you can and do accumulate possessions for yourself.
In this universe,
there are two types of possessions worldly and spiritual.
Worldly possessions
are temporary and last only while you are alive.They do not go off into the next life with
you, when you make your grand departure.
Spiritual possessions
are eternal.Spiritual possessions are
formed within your soul, and do not exist as tangible things.Spiritual possessions are a function of your
spiritual life, and their growth is directly related to the function of your spiritual
life.
Spiritual possessions
when acquired, become incorporated within the very fabric of your soul and cannot
be separated, by someone else, from you, either in time or in eternity.They are the only real possession that you
can have now, take with you, and retain forever.
The word for
corruption, moth eaten, and rusted, refer to a state of lack of use, or lack of
value, or to something that when not used simply goes to ruin. They also refer to the nature of the wearing
out of things. And in this case they
refer to things that have value or use for a limited time, and then are of no
use.
In the ancient world,
anyone who stored grain, or food, would have trouble with varmints, weather,
and time.In the course of time their grain
or crop stores, would go bad. So hoarding up such things turned into a loss.
Storing up clothing
brought you nothing better, because the wear and tear of time, moths, and such,
would make your clothes go from new to old.
The same destiny of
things occurs today.How many garage sales
are there on any given weekend?How long
do your laundry or kitchen appliances last?How long does your car last?Everything
you own will wear out sooner or later, and such is the nature of all
possessions that exist in history.
Whether stocks, real
estate, jewelry, or the clothes on your back, all things will wear out.And the final wearing out of them is at the
moment of your death.At that moment,
they have no value to you.Maybe they have
value to your heirs, but only while they are alive, but certainly not to you
immediately after your death.
People who look to
things in life, are in effect substituting things in place of their spiritual
opportunities.
They are investing in
worldly things, as their nest egg for eternity, like holding on to water as it
falls through your fingers.
And that is where
James tells us all, that the things of this world, even the gold, the wealth,
the silver, the prosperity, and so forth will not follow people into the next life.
And the ultimate
wearing out of things will occur at the end of the Millennium when Christ
destroys this entire universe, and creates a brand new one.All of the old will be gone.None of the old will go into eternity.
So, whatever dynasties
you are building, will eventually be destroyed with no residue, as though they
had never existed.
Now is the time to post a prayer.
End Of Lesson
Study to show thyself approved (mature) unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (studying/discerning), the Word of truth.
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