James 4:1-17
I’m thinking again about the profiteering that James discusses in James 4:13-17. I already discussed entrepreneurship in my second post (below) from last year and I see good in a lot of entrepreneurial activities. But there are some that strike me wrong. Right now I’m thinking of housing developments. We live in the country and on a number of these country roads we see the beginning of new housing developments. One that I really like is on the south end of Main Street in Versailles, just as you’re coming in to town on Rt. 33. There is nothing pretentious about it; it’s simply a new development with smaller homes, clearly our modern version of “starter homes”. [As I was growing up a newly-built “starter home” was three bedrooms, one bath!] A number of other new housing developments are quite modest, often just a very nice three-plank fence setting the borders of the development and maybe a brick-built entryway announcing the name of the development. For most of these developments the homes that are being built are beyond being “starter homes”, but don’t seem to be excessive. Others are! They boast a grand entrance and offer huge houses with ten or fifteen roof slopes, clearly designed for someone who has enjoyed a much greater income than Carol and I. Finally, there is one development going up on Rt. 169 between Keene and the Shannon Run intersection that’s worth a drive-by. Its main entrance boast of four gigantic brick pillars, two on each side, crowned with caps that cry out “luxury”. If I go further describing the property I just get more and more judgmental. But I wonder at what the Lord has to say about this level of luxury when so many in this county, this state, this country are hurting and barely getting by. Verse 16 just screams out to me: But as it is, you boast in your arrogance (or pretentions); all such boasting is evil. James offers his summary statement on profiteering one verse earlier: Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” (v. 15) “If the Lord wills…”
See also: March 21 / James 4:1-10; March 22 / James 4:11-17