Aug 17, 2014
Money does funny things to people, doesn't it? Actually, money doesn't do anything to people. Money is an inanimate object. It's a thing. It can't do anything. It can't really change people. But what happens is, money reveals who a person really is on the inside. It removes many of the barriers that keep people from acting like they really want to act. From showing who they truly are. From uncovering their innermost self. Over the past two sermons in James, we've seen who we really are in our innermost self, haven't we? Apart from Christ, we are all full of ourselves. That's called pride. Pride is placing our selfish nature and desires in the place where only the Lord should be. A few weeks ago, we saw what happens when we place our selfish desires above God's desire. Last week, we saw what happens when we place our personal plans above God's plan. Today, we're looking at the final part about pride in James. This third part of the pride test that James covers in our passage today deals with our pocketbooks. More specifically, talking about the greedy pride that can come from using our money the wrong way. Today we are going to look at how to avoid just that and end with how to live generously as opposed to greedily.