So goes a verse in the well-known poem we sing at Christmas, “Do You Hear What I Hear?” written in 1962 by Noel Regney and his wife, Gloria Shayne as a plea for peace and a return to human civility, sanity and dignity during turbulent time in America. It’s a song that could have been written again in this time of world history. The wealthy get wealthier, all the while fearful of the next stock market crash, while the poor get poorer. How should we live, especially those of us who know the amazing grace of God and the gift Jesus brought to earth over 2000 years ago?

It’s a haunting question, especially at Christmas when giving is clearly on our minds, and oh how the hype can crowd out the true spirit of giving. Does the subtle fear of not having enough cause a hoarding spirit to prevail? James 5:1-3 warns us from the grave to love people and love God out of compassionate, giving hearts, or corruption and corrosion will eventually consume us.

Look here, you rich people: Weep and groan with anguish because of all the terrible troubles ahead of 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.

Woe! What a strong indictment. Corrosion happens to silver when something comes in contact with it that breaks down its composition. There is no known natural substance that can destroy gold, but James is not speaking of the natural. His indictment is about the heart and the spirit with which we relate to one another in this world. In Matthew 6:19 Jesus tells us…

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

And previously in James’s dissertation (4:1-3) he says:  When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

What and where exactly is my treasure, and how am I preventing spiritual corrosion? Where is my heart?

I checked out a website, globalrichlist.com, which shows one's personal rank in wealth in our world today. You put in the country you live in and your annual income – that’s all. No gimmicks. I learned that my meager social security benefit puts me in the TOP 3.20% RICHEST people in the world! OUCH! But it isn’t about our world wealth status, is it?

The Rich Young Ruler (Matthew 19:16-20) wasn’t living a nonspiritual life simply because he HAD wealth – but rather because he chose his self-sufficiency over following Jesus. Treasuring Jesus, most of all, changes the trajectory of our heart and causes us to see, with the eyes of our heart, how to live out a life of blessing toward others on this earth. His instruction, rejected by the man who asked Jesus what good things he needed to do to inherit eternal life, was this:

“If you would be complete, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure {a storehouse of precious things} in heaven; and come, follow Me.” The man went away, scripture says, sorrowful because he had much wealth.

Caring for one another and following Jesus are treasures seated in heaven, rather than here on earth where corrosion robs us of the pure joy of partnering with Jesus for the sake of bringing the Kingdom of Heaven here to this earth.

There is another story about the condition of the hear which Jesus reflects on…

Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

Being wealthy is realizing the abundance in my life, living with the mindset of gratitude, giving freely and graciously rather than keeping, for myself, what I might consider meager finances, compared to the rich young ruler.

This holy Christmas season as I contemplate the life of Jesus – born in a humble manger, died a sinner’s death on a Cross so I might be free – will I live my life out of a hoarding spirit or out of my redeemed heart? One choice buries my treasures on earth where corrosion destroys even gold, the other is deposited in Heaven’s vast storehouse from which God’s blessings continually flow. For where my treasure is, there will my heart be also…

Said the King to the people everywhere, “Listen to what I say. The Child, the Child, sleeping in the night, He will bring us goodness and light.”

Jesus spoke to the people and said, "I am the Light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the Light of Life.  John 8:12

smcs // 12/16/2019