Thursday Ponderings

Pauline's Thursday Ponderings! 30th May 2013

G’day and welcome to Pauline's Thursday Ponderings! ~~~~~ James 5:1-6 Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 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. 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. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you. ~~~~~ These words from the book of James contain strong warnings. But what has this to do with me I hear you ask, I am not wealthy. If you wear shoes and have access to clean water, that makes you rich comparatively. And I believe with that comes responsibility as a Christian. I believe we have a responsibility to buy fair trade food when it is on offer. We need to buy our clothes from companies that have well respected ethical policies. Get informed through Tearfunds Lift The Label campaign. We should not want to buy clothes that have been produced in a sweatshop. ~~~~~ Another practical thing you could do is join the Micah challenge to lobby governments about the promises they made to alleviate global poverty and to attain the Millenium development goals. ~~~~~ Review your charity donations and work out exactly what proportion of your income you are giving away. Pray to see if God wants you to give away more or less. ~~~~~ I hope these suggestions will help you deal with your wealth responsibly and in a Christ like way. ~~~~~ Let me finish with some words from the prophet Micah . Micah 6:8 “He has shown you O man what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." ~~~~~ Right Mouse click to save this as an audio mp3 file Click the link below to subscribe to this site! iTunes Tweet