October 25
Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. (11:4)
WEALTH CAN MAKE YOU DISTRACTED. Wealth has the power to absorb your time, energy, and imagination so you have too little left to pay attention to more important things. No one on their deathbed cries out, “I wish I’d spent more time at the office, making more money.” The day of wrath is Judgment Day. Judgment Day questions are “What is my life amounting to? Whom am I really living for—God and my neighbor, or myself? What contribution am I making?”
Wealth blinds you to Judgment Day questions. It sucks you into a frantic cycle. It goes like this. “I’ve earned more, so I’m going to spend more. But now that I’m spending more, I need to earn more.” And all the time you feel strapped and not that well-off, which leads you to work even more. Wealth has the power to make you far too busy with things that are less important. Jesus’ version of this proverb is given in Luke 12:16–21. You are a fool if you are absorbed in “storing up things for [yourself]” that you cannot keep but are not “rich toward God” in things you cannot lose.
In your life or someone else’s, where have you seen the power of money to distract us from the big questions and issues?
Prayer: Father, I don’t want to be like the fool who broke his back to build up his business, all with a view to future years of ease that never came. Make me “rich toward God” now. Meet me in prayer. Conform me into the image of your Son. Grow me in the fear of the Lord. Amen.
October 26
“The rich are wise in their own eyes; one who is poor and discerning sees how deluded they are. . . . I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’” (28:11, 30:9)
WEALTH CAN MAKE YOU PROUD. We naturally take credit for wealth. Instead of acknowledging the enormous number of factors outside your control that brought the money to you, even with all your work, you attribute it all to your cleverness and discipline. Thus you become wise in your own eyes, the essence of foolishness (28:11). This pride will lead you to put too much faith in your instincts. You won’t listen to others. Making money does not make you a great judge of character or wise about everything—but many wealthy people feel it does. Bernard of Clairvaux is reputed to have once said, “To see a man humble under prosperity is the greatest rarity in the world.”
The ultimate danger of wealth is it leads us to say, “Who is the Lord?”—“Why do I need God?” Jesus insisted that we do not feed and clothe ourselves any more than the birds or the flowers do (Matthew 6:25–34). It is only when, in the Spirit’s power, we realize we are saved only by grace that we can see God’s grace in everything, and escape this deadly power of money.
Where have you seen the power of money to make us proud?
Prayer: Lord, how quickly we take credit in our hearts for a little financial success. So Lord, I thank you for any successes, any goals attained, and any blessings I wasn’t capable of attaining, yet you sent to me. Amen.
October 27
A person’s riches may ransom their life, but the poor cannot respond to threatening rebukes. (13:8)
THE BURDEN OF WEALTH. The situation in 13:8 could be a kidnapping or perhaps blackmail. A wealthy family pays the demanded sum. This seems to be an argument for having a lot of money. Commentators point out that the poor cannot respond to such threats, but on the other hand they don’t need to as no one would try to get a ransom out of them.217 The wealthy are subject to dangers “to which a poor man offers too small a target.”218
The wealthy have stresses and burdens others do not have. They are barraged with requests for gifts and investments in new projects. They may become lonely because it is difficult to know who their friends truly are. Also, wealth needs constant attention and care just to maintain and manage (27:23–24). So riches bring cares, burdens, and responsibilities that others do not face. Living life with money actually requires greater faith and dependence on God, not less. Look to David for the proper attitude toward your wealth (1 Chronicles 29:10–19) and to the greater David’s attitude toward his (2 Corinthians 8:9).
Whom have you seen shoulder the burden of affluence well? Whom have you seen do it not so well? What were the differences?
Prayer: Lord, there is a kind of justice in that those with the greater blessings also receive greater responsibility and burdens. I ask by your grace that if you deign to bless me with greater success, I might grow in the greater wisdom, humility, and love necessary to bear it. Amen.
October 28
My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger, you have been trapped by what you said, ensnared by the words of your mouth. So do this, my son, to free yourself, since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands. Go—to the point of exhaustion—and give your neighbor no rest! (6:1–3)
GAMBLING OR INVESTING? A young man has agreed to put up money for a business deal with someone he hardly knows—a stranger. He is admonished for entering into an unwise, overly risky financial transaction (11:15, 17:18, 20:16, 22:26–27). When it comes to financial dealings, “Scripture establishes prudence as one of the virtues. . . . [This] does not banish generosity; it is nearer to banishing gambling.”219 Many supposedly financial deals are so risky and imprudent that they are as much gambling as playing a slot machine.
The moral problems with gambling, in any form, are many. It is an effort to do an “end run” around the hard work, due diligence, and time investment that ordinarily is required to make wealth grow. Magic is condemned in the Bible because it is an effort to get power without discipleship, so we don’t have to rely on God. Gambling is the same. Any money that we really can afford to essentially throw away on a risk we should instead be willing to give away to help others, which is always a sure thing. Jesus “threw away” his wealth and power, but to enrich us—not himself (Romans 15:1–3a).
What are the varied forms of gambling available to us in our society? Have you ever been drawn into any of them?
Prayer: Lord, make me prudent with regard to money, not prone to impulsive or risky endeavors. At the same time, give me foresight and a lack of fear and worry about money, knowing that you supply me with what I need even as you do the birds and flowers (Matthew 6:25–34). Amen.
October 29
How much better to get wisdom than gold, to get insight rather than silver! . . . Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife. . . . Better the poor whose walk is blameless than the rich whose ways are perverse. (16:16, 17:1, 28:6)
WEALTH IN PERSPECTIVE. Money is not as important as wisdom and insight (16:16 and 8:19). Why not? The advantages of wealth seem to include safety and comfort for your family and the ability to do good in the world. Yet wealth without wisdom means the dangers and difficulties that wealth inevitably attracts will make us less secure and useful. Without wisdom, wealth cannot truly give us anything good.
Money is not as important as relationships (17:1). It is only love and right relationships—with God and with others—that can give us a meaningful life, yet wealth, as we have seen, can put a strain on relationships, disrupt them, and leave us lonely. Money is not as important as integrity of character (28:6). A good conscience before God and human beings (Acts 24:16) is crucial, yet, as we have seen, money puts great pressure on our integrity. The bottom line: Wealth is an extremely useful thing, but it can give you nothing of lasting value or happiness.
Has wealth gotten out of perspective in your life?
Prayer: Lord, wealth seems to offer such good things—security, consequence, and power to do deeds of mercy. Yet without wisdom it can deliver none of them. Therefore, Lord, I ask that you not grant me any financial success unless you bless me with character, a good conscience, and strong relationships. Amen.
October 30
The wealth of the rich is their fortified city, but poverty is the ruin of the poor. (10:15)
THE IDOL OF WEALTH: PART 1. We return to this important proverb. Why does wealth have all the power over us that we have been describing? In ancient times, because walled and fortified cities were so safe, the wealthiest wanted to live in them and the poor could not afford to. The city dwelling meant high status. But 10:15 does not say merely that the rich live in the city. It says their wealth is their city. That is, wealth can become your identity.
When wealth becomes your identity, you come to feel that people are not just below you economically; they are below you. This is spiritually lethal. In the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 26:19–31) the “rich man” in hell has no name because that was all he was—just a rich man. If you make wealth your very identity, and something takes the money away, there is no “you” left. You are prosperous and successful or you are nothing. But for the wise, the fear of the Lord is their treasure (Isaiah 33:6). To those who believe in Jesus, he is surpassingly precious (1 Peter 2:7).
Have you had enough success in life to be tempted to make your career or wealth your identity? Have you seen others give into this temptation? How can it be defeated?
Prayer: Lord, it takes little to make my social class into my identity. Pride in my credentials, or in the neighborhood I live in, become more important to my “name” than my true name in Christ. Let me instead rest my hope and find my worth in you. Amen.
October 31
The wealth of the rich is their fortified city; they imagine it a wall too high to scale. (18:11)
THE IDOL OF WEALTH: PART 2. 18:11 says wealth exerts its power over us through our imagination. We imagine all the ways it will save us—it will be a wall too high—from the things we fear or dread. Thus our daydreams and fantasies about money not only show us that wealth can be an idol but they can also reveal our other idols to us. What your heart most loves and adores, what it most rests in, is where you most effortlessly, joyfully, almost addictively spend your money.
Some people put their money most effortlessly into savings, in order to feel safe. Others put it most readily into clothing or things that make them appear attractive and sophisticated, in order to get people’s approval and admiration. Others put it into homes and membership in clubs, in order to get status and power. “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). What will help break the hold that money has on our hearts? Radical generosity to God and the poor is a critical starting place. For idolatrous hearts it will be painful, but “one who cannot cast away a treasure at need is in fetters.”220
How have you seen the truth of Jesus’ saying “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” worked out in your life or others’ lives?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, what a revealer money is! If I look at what I spend money on most effortlessly, almost without thinking, I see the real functional joys and trusts of my heart. Let me behold your glory (2 Corinthians 3:18) until these other things lose their grip on my heart and desires. Amen.
November 1
A wicked person earns deceptive wages, but the one who sows righteousness reaps a sure reward. (11:18)
UNREAL WEALTH. Without a relationship with God, your income is deceptive, literally, “unreal” (Hebrew seqer). Why? As we have seen, money’s spiritual power lies in its ability to make us think it can give us far more than it can. We slip into believing that we could have a better life if we were just a little bit richer. We think that with the money will somehow come life and peace, but that is not true at all.
The only true solution to the power of money over you is to see yourself rich in Christ. In him we are “rich toward God” (Luke 12:21; cf. 2 Corinthians 8:9). Riches on earth bring some short-lived status, but we are children of the King of the universe. Riches on earth bring some security, but “in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called” (Romans 8:28). Riches on earth bring power, but we will rule with Christ (2 Timothy 2:12). Christ has paid the only debt that could destroy us (Luke 7:42–43), which makes all other debts inconsequential. In Christ you are truly rich.
In your life or the life of someone else, have you seen the false promises of wealth being exposed for what they are? How?
Prayer: Lord, real wealth is to be wealthy toward you (Luke 12:12) and real fame is to be praised by you (Romans 2:29). I thank you that, in your grace, you added to the lasting treasures of my salvation some of the world’s fading goods. Let me never lose track of which kind of wealth is which! Amen.
November 2
One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. (11:24)
SCATTERING AND GATHERING. The more you scatter your wealth, the more you gather it, and the more you try to keep it for yourself, the more it dissipates. How could that be? Think of farmers. The more they scatter seed, the more they will reap. And keep in mind that seed comes back in a better form, as harvest you can eat and sell. In the same way, spiritually wise people realize their money is seed, and the only way for them to turn it into real riches is by giving it away in remarkable proportions (cf. 2 Corinthians 9:6).
This is not a promise that the more you give away, the more money you will make. Rather the more you give away wisely to ministries and programs that help people spiritually and physically, the more your money becomes the real wealth of changed lives in others and of spiritual health in yourself. And you will be walking in the footsteps of the one who was literally broken and scattered so he could gather us to himself.
Where have you seen this principle of scattering and gathering illustrated? How?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, your infinite loss on the cross has led to resurrection and infinite gains for us. Give me the faith to follow your path, to disburse and scatter my goods and time for others, and thereby see your grace and life grow in the lives of people around me. Amen.
November 3
The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor. (22:9)
THE BLESSING OF GENEROSITY. The generous will themselves be blessed when they share their food with the poor. Of what does this blessing consist? Generosity that breaks the power of money over you may make you wiser in your financial dealings.
But the blessing here is surely the increase in the true wealth of love. Even at the level of common sense, we feel the most rich when we most love and are loved. Radical generosity is an act of love toward God and toward others that exponentially increases love. It moves us from seeing money as a currency of status and power to instead seeing it as a currency for loving God and others. We love God with our money when we treat it as his, not ours, and send it out to the things he loves. We love people with our money when we heal and repair lives with it. And in the Bible we are blessed the more like God we become. God originally gave us our own lives. Then he gave us his Son’s life. The more we give away, the more like our God we become. And that is blessed.
How have you seen the blessing of generosity illustrated?
Prayer: Father, there is only one true “currency” of value—love. In love you made the world and sent your Son. Let me never put financial security before love. Let me use my money to love people who are poor, to love people who don’t know you, and to love people with needs in my family and Christian community. Amen.
November 4
Those who give to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to them receive many curses. (28:27)
I SHALL NOT WANT. If we are generous with wealth, we will lack nothing. While this cannot mean that all generous, righteous people become more prosperous (15:15–17, 16:8,19, 19:22), the second clause gives us a hint at why financial generosity can enhance material security. Selfish people get curses from the community around them. Thus the generous get the blessings of the community.
In Mark 10:29–31 Jesus says that if, through generosity, you lose “homes” or “fields” for his sake, you will receive new ones “in this present age.
” The reason that Christians are free to radically give away money when needs are evident is because they are now members of a community that will do the same for them, should they be in want. This gives us every incentive to maintain Christian communities of mutual, practical love, like the early church, where “no one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything” (Acts 4:32–34). This is how believers can be radically generous without excessive worry. Because they are embedded in a community of believers they will lack nothing they really need.
In your life or the life of someone else, have you seen how the strength of the bonds of a Christian community encourages and supports generosity?
Prayer: Lord, to live as a rugged individualist is not your will for me, and it leaves me vulnerable. Change my heart and strengthen the church so we, your people, can truly be members of one another. Amen.
November 5
Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine. (3:9–10)
HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH? How much of our money should we be giving away to follow the biblical direction to be generous? When Proverbs tells us you must honor the Lord with your wealth, it speaks against the backdrop of the biblical “tithe.” God required Israelites to give 10 percent of their annual income to the Levites and the priests to support both the temple and the poor. God saw this proportion of their wealth as his, and therefore the failure to give it was seen not as stinginess but as robbery (Malachi 3:6–12).
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