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Proverbs 23
starts off with a few neat verses about wealth.
We are not to toil hard to amass wealth.
In fact, it is even better that we not see it! For when we look upon it to attain it, it
shifts away and stays out of our grasp.
If our eyes are desiring of wealth, we will pursue it forever and never truly
attain it. How many people in this life
have died pursuing the easy life of wealth yet never attained their goal?
The author
says similar things about the food of the stingy – and let’s face it, often the
wealthy are among the stingiest! The person
who is stingy tell you to eat and drink, but inwardly they are calculating about
how much you have taken from them and how much you are growing into their
debt. Your time and your friendship is
wasted upon such a person.
If we are to
be wise, we should set out heart on wisdom and righteousness. If we act and speak in righteousness, then
the Lord will be with us. If we gain
wisdom, we will be able to know right from wrong. We will be able to avoid the pitfalls of sin. When we do these things, the Lord will have
reason to take notice and uphold our cause.
In fact,
when we are wise and righteous we make those people around us rejoice. We make our parents proud. We make our friends glad to know us. We make our God look down upon us with
joy. We make the lives of those whom we
do not know better! When we live a life
of righteousness we benefit the community around us. This is why it is better to pursue
righteousness and wisdom than set our eyes upon wealth or other sins of the
world.
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