A good name is to be chosen rather
than great riches,
And favor is better than silver or gold.
Or so begins Proverbs twenty-second chapter.
As a committed Christ-follower, I could nod my noggin until next November in utter agreement with that principal. The foot and a half plummet from head to heart, aye, there's the rub.
In a time when moths eat holes in IRA's and rust erodes 401k's (Matthew 6:19), the Christian can lose sight of laying up treasures in heaven faster than a pea in the circus huckster's shell game. A little slight of hand a bit of misdirection and I become firmly convinced I'm properly focused.
But the shell is empty. No stuffed teddy bear and I lost my three dollars.
Perhaps thieves have broken in and stolen. No matter. Where are my eyes? Does the loss of my money have me sweating the future or do I continue to trust the one who's got the few remaining hairs on my head numbered (Matthew 10:30)? Oops, that's three fewer.
Don't misunderstand. We must be wise about preparing for the future. Consider the ant (Proverbs 6:6-11) and other proverbial success stories (13:11, 13:22, and 21:5 to name a few). Still, as one gentleman exposed to me in my younger days, if I die a fool, someone else will get my stereo, and someone else will woo my wife.
No other place offers the treasure trove of wisdom like God's word. At a time of fiscal irresponsibility by individuals (we're approaching $10,000 in credit card debt per family), corporations (can you say AIG? the Big Three?), and our own government (we will not see the debt paid off in our lifetime...if ever), I love stumbling upon simple and sage wisdom that echoes biblical truth.
I offer to you a couple of articles that passed my way this week.
than great riches,
And favor is better than silver or gold.
Or so begins Proverbs twenty-second chapter.
As a committed Christ-follower, I could nod my noggin until next November in utter agreement with that principal. The foot and a half plummet from head to heart, aye, there's the rub.
In a time when moths eat holes in IRA's and rust erodes 401k's (Matthew 6:19), the Christian can lose sight of laying up treasures in heaven faster than a pea in the circus huckster's shell game. A little slight of hand a bit of misdirection and I become firmly convinced I'm properly focused.But the shell is empty. No stuffed teddy bear and I lost my three dollars.
Perhaps thieves have broken in and stolen. No matter. Where are my eyes? Does the loss of my money have me sweating the future or do I continue to trust the one who's got the few remaining hairs on my head numbered (Matthew 10:30)? Oops, that's three fewer.
Don't misunderstand. We must be wise about preparing for the future. Consider the ant (Proverbs 6:6-11) and other proverbial success stories (13:11, 13:22, and 21:5 to name a few). Still, as one gentleman exposed to me in my younger days, if I die a fool, someone else will get my stereo, and someone else will woo my wife.No other place offers the treasure trove of wisdom like God's word. At a time of fiscal irresponsibility by individuals (we're approaching $10,000 in credit card debt per family), corporations (can you say AIG? the Big Three?), and our own government (we will not see the debt paid off in our lifetime...if ever), I love stumbling upon simple and sage wisdom that echoes biblical truth.
I offer to you a couple of articles that passed my way this week.
- A bold, fresh bit of stewardship. God's not mentioned but the ruminations are straight out of Proverbs.
- Bailout, communism & the greed of the common man. Thomas Sowell winds up upon the Big Three automakers and knocks them, our nation's recent socialist tendencies, and our individual greed right on their fragile posteriors. Why do we want to see "The man" fail? He illustrates by highlighting why the American Revolution didn't devolve into class warfare as did the French Debacle.
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