Proverbs 10:15. A rich man’s wealth is his strong city; the poverty of the poor is their ruin.
In Solomon’s day, the city wasn’t a place of entertainment, culture, and industry like it is today. It was primarily a place of safety. Cities were built and then they were fortified with high walls, towers, and defenses. When the enemy attacked, the people would flee to the strong city for protection.
Not only were strong cities about security, they were also about status. City-states vied for dominance over one another. The most powerful city represented an entire people. To live in Jerusalem, for example, was to live in the holiest city on Earth among princes and priests.
The warning for us here is that we who are rich are quite likely to turn our wealth into our security and our status, our strong city. If you think about it, you likely relate to your own wealth in one of these ways or in both of these ways to some degree. Are you a saver? Saving up for a secure retirement? Are you a spender? Buying things that make you feel more beautiful or important?
You might be asking, so what am I supposed to do? Reject all wealth and embrace poverty? No. That’s the other half of today’s proverb – the poverty of the poor is their ruin. God is warning about both wealth and poverty. Our wealth can’t be our security and status, nor can our poverty be our self-righteousness. Scripture doesn’t romanticize poverty as a “higher plane” to live on where the rejection of all earthly goods brings us closer to God. God knows that there are just as many temptations to reject faith in God for the poor as there are for the rich.
In Christ, we find the balanced life of seeking neither wealth nor poverty. Being found in Christ is our strong city, our fortress. Christ alone is our ultimate security and status. Embracing our spiritual blessings and our future glory in heaven’s celestial city frees our hearts from the pursuit of earthly treasure. A treasure that will never love you back like Christ will. At the same time, our union with Christ allows us to reject the notion that poverty is a calling that God places on us or others. Rather our calling in Christ is to lift others out of poverty, and to work hard for ourselves so as to not have to be dependent on others. Remember Paul’s words to the Thessalonians:
1 Thessalonians 4:11-12. 11aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, 12so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.
Jesus rejects our pride. Whether we are the proud rich or the proud poor, Christ in us is calling us to humility and complete dependence on God. May we never be the proud rich, nor the humble impoverished. But may we, by God’s grace be the humble, hard-working, self-reliant, sharing followers of Jesus we are called to be.
You: Is your wealth your strong city? Your security? Your status?
You in Christ: In what ways has your union with Christ brought security to your soul?
Christ in you: What attitudes and perspectives on your wealth might need to change in order for you to approach it humbly as Christ would?
Pray: Father, I want to trust you more than anything else, even money. Jesus, you are my “strong city” that I will run to for my security and my identity. Amen.
To Live is Christ 