March 28 Daily Devotional

Scripture for Day 87—James 5:1–6

¹ Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. ² Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. ³ Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. ⁴ Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. ⁵ You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. ⁶ You have condemned; you have murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.

Devotional:

The key to this warning is found in verse 3b—"You have laid up treasure in the last days." This applies several New Testament principles to our present setting. First, you are living in the last days right now. Second, the end of the last days will be the last day—the day when our Lord Jesus returns in power and glory to judge the living and the dead.

* John 6:39 — "And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day."

* John 6:40 — "For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day."

* John 12:48 — "The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day."

* This will be the day of judgment for all people — John 5:28–29 — "Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment."

Do you believe that? Do you daily cultivate and nurture your hope in the second coming of our Lord and Savior?

Because this is a certainty, in the meantime, God calls you to reorient all your priorities in light of the fact that you live in the last days and that the last day is coming.

Click here for background on the author of Are You For Real?: Meditations in the Epistle of James for Secret or Family Worship.