Are You Rich?

The post title is a question I've been pondering lately. Many times I find myself wanting this or wanting that. I remember when I was 18 and lived on room and board for $350 a month and had enough money to put gas in the car. It was great. I thought how easy it was going to be when i had a 'career' and could finally arrive. Yet, our society continually pushes us to want more, more, more. So - back to the question - if you are living in Canada / USA, the poorest among us is rich compared to the rest of the world in which many survive on less than 2$ per day.

Which brings me to my devotions today - it was about rich people.
James 5:1-6 CHALLENGING
Here's the highlights of what we do:
1. hoard wealth
2. fail to pay wages of those that provide our stuff
3. live in luxury
4. live in self -indulgence
5. fattened ourselves in day or time of slaughter
6. condemned and murdered the innocent.

At first, I was thinking this is a good verse for real rich people. i started to think about it a bit more and here are some thoughts rolling around my head.
- There are more slaves in the world now than at any other point in history. Most of them are working providing stuff for the west. (some sugar, some tires, some coffee) Am I contributing to workers not getting their wages by the choices I make in buying things?
- luxury and self-indulgent - Am I intentionally living to help and be generous to others?
- fattened myself - Am I eating 'more than enough' when others don't have enough to eat?
- condemned and murdered the innocent - Am I contributing (by my inaction) to the issues of injustice - sex and child slavery, slavery, environmental degradation, AIDS orphans (40 million in Africa), child soldiers, etc.

Whew - That is some heavy duty thinking... good thing it was only for me and doesn't apply to you, eh? :-)