“Rusty Gold and Tattered Garments”

 James 5:2 KJV

[2] “Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.”

     God will not bless someone who tries to gain wealth at the expense of others. Greed has destroyed a lot of men in this world. Some men have gone so far as to sell their souls to the Devil to get rich. Gold fever has brought death and destruction to many good men.    

     Wealth in itself is not sinful. However, when someone tries to obtain wealth by robbing others, that is a sin. Crooked politicians do it daily in our country. They pass laws to fatten each other’s pocketbooks, never caring about the burden they are putting on the American family. God says that their riches are corrupt.   

     True wealth comes from the hand of God, and we cannot measure it by worldly goods. Those who possess it understand the joy it brings to their soul. We can share the wealth God gives us with the knowledge that He will bless both the gift and the giver.   

     It is certain that God never blesses a stingy individual and especially not a thief. At least some of the Scrooges of this world obtained their wealth honestly. There is a curse on those who rob the poor to gain more wealth, that their riches would be corrupt and their clothes would be motheaten!   

     Think about the Hollywood stars, sports athletes, and successful businessmen of this world who had everything but died with nothing. They spent their days living a crooked life and lost it all in just a moment of a breath. They died in misery with nothing to show for it in this world or in eternity. The truth of the text is that you can’t get ahead by stealing from others because God will see to it that you don’t. What you gain will rust, and your garments will become full of holes. True wealth comes honestly!