Skip to main content

More Riches

             By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures. (Proverbs 24:3-4)

Wait. Yesterday’s message was “riches bad.” Now, today, it’s that riches are connected to knowledge and wisdom? Yes. Yesterday, we were warned not to make the pursuit of riches our motivation and as a sign of success. Today’s passage refers to valuable things with which we fill our homes.

One of the riches that comes to mind for me is crafting supplies. It’s not that I want to have a house decorated with crafts that I treasure. It’s that I want to be able to solve problems that arise, have ready access to something productive and creative to do, and be able to give to others. I have friends who put pictures of family members on their walls, or pictures children or grandchildren have colored. Mind you, the frame may not be gilt. There may not be a frame, but those are treasures, and those who do so build their home wisely.

The goal of today’s riches is not the riches themselves. I don’t collect craft supplies to have the most craft supplies or be a yarn-ionaire. I don’t purchase lumber in order to guide visitors into my office to point at the walls and say, “See all the lovely wood I’ve collected?”  I’d be crazy if I did, because I don’t tend to buy “pretty” or perfect wood. People don’t display their grandkids’ art because the picture itself is priceless but because the grandchildren are.

If we return to the idea that wisdom is dealing with reality in a positive, healthy way (with God, the universe, and the other things we find in the universe), then yesterday’s riches and today’s are easily distinguished. The riches that disappear are what connect us to things in a way we cannot escape. The riches with which the wise person builds a house connect them to other people.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more