Wisdom From the Proverbsናሙና

Proverbs 22

'Rich and poor have this in common: the Lord makes them all.'

(Proverbs 22:2 CSB)

The desire to be wealthy -- rich -- goes back a long, long way. We as people soon discovered that to have is better than not having.

However, over time, the desire to be secure and well-off has grown from living comfortably to living with excess.

Our modern culture even celebrates those who have huge mansions, fancy cars and live in luxury.

The danger with this is that we become proud or dependent on our wealth and privilege and forget that God has given us the ability to amass such riches.

When I read the verse above, a verse I have come across before, it stood out to me differently. I immediately thought of two key moments in our lives: the day we are born, and the day we die.

Both days have one thing in common – we are on our own. And not only are we on our own, but we also don't have any material possession with us.

We are born with nothing, and we die with nothing.

When we come to meet Jesus at the end of our days, we won't be able to hold up our houses or our cars to Him and claim glory or reward for them. These are not the kinds of things that God put us on the earth to gain.

I believe that God is far more concerned with the person we have become – our inner richness – than He is about the material wealth we have gathered during our lifetime.

This kind of shift in our cultural thinking and behaviour requires us to fight against the current of modern living and choose to add more to our character than add more to our homes.

Proverbs 22:1 says this:

'A good name is to be chosen over great wealth; favour is better than silver or gold.'

Perhaps we should spend our days on earth weighing the content of our characters more than we weigh the wealth of our own 'kingdoms'.

This, when the time comes, will bear much more fruit on the day we meet Jesus than if we present Him with our silver and gold.