Proverbs 15:16-17. 16Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble with it. 17Better is a dinner of herbs where love is than a fattened ox and hatred with it.
In the first proverb, the person has great treasure but also great trouble. In the second proverb, the person has a fattened ox (a sign of wealth) but hatred with it. Can you relate?
This life will always offer us a choice: covetousness or contentment, wealth with worry or simplicity with peace, hatred or love. Hatred or love? It may seem extreme to go from talking about possession to talking about hate and love, but it’s not. Wealth is a heart issue because contentment is a heart issue. Covetousness is a heart issue. What we treasure, value, and protect is a heart issue.
The truth is that having more money, wealth, and possessions is not always better. Why? Because usually having great treasure makes us trust in ourselves rather than trusting in the fear of the Lord. Having lots of things just gives us more things to worry and argue about. Our proverb calls this trouble. This is the word for frantic, desperate, disordered actions. More possessions tend to make us love our possessions to the point where we begin to lose sense of what is really important, and worse yet, we begin to lose sense of who we are in Christ, leaving us to frenetically protect our identity found in our wealth.
You know, there’s truth at the end of that classic movie, It’s a Wonderful Life – “no man is a failure who has friends.” The man who is loved is the richest person in the world. It’s far better to have only vegetables for dinner with people who love you than to have a steak dinner with people who hate you. That’s what George Bailey learned and Mr. Potter never did.
Jesus gave up everything to gain the ones he loves – you and me. Yet, in the end he was betrayed while eating his dinner of herbs. He had very little and died alone. All who claimed to love him abandoned him. He was despised and rejected. He was the fattened calf led to the slaughter for us.
Why? Why did he lose it all? So that one day we might have it all. The fear of the Lord AND great treasure. Love AND the fattened calf. That is our destiny in Christ.
Until then, we have a Friend who will always love us, even when all we have are herbs to eat. Even when our earthly possessions breakdown and decay, we will always have Christ and his unending love for us. If all we have is Jesus and his love, and we trust his love for us (the fear of the Lord), then we have great gain.
1 Timothy 6:6. But godliness with contentment is great gain.
You: Where have wealth and possession gotten in the way of you loving others?
You in Christ: How can knowing that you always have God’s love in Christ allow you to put aside greed, covetousness, and the trouble that comes with chasing wealth?
Christ in you: How can you practice contentment today with Christ’s help?
Pray: Jesus, your friendship and love satisfy me, and fill my soul. Amen.
To Live is Christ 