As I preached through James recently, I became fascinated with trials and tests. It was not just a matter of idle exegetical curiosity, since by any measure the church I am part of belongs to the wealthiest class of the most materialistic civilisation on earth. We just expect to have whatever we want and I struggle with greed as much as anyone. I concluded that being rich is a trial as much as suffering hardship. This might be a hard thing for someone who is not rich to accept—how can the rich complain?! But this appears to be the teaching of God’s word here in the letter of James.

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