Day 80 – 90 Days in Proverbs - Emptying the Ocean
Proverbs 13:7 [NKJV] There is one who makes himself rich, yet [has] nothing; [And] one who makes himself poor, yet [has] great riches.
Money and the things it can buy is only one way to be rich. Even though money is the primary factor used to designate someone as rich in this world, the vast majority of the people of the world today do not qualify as rich by that measure. This was also true of most of the people of the world in Solomon’s time.
As Christians, we understand that those of us with money to spare are commanded to help those with less. Giving to the poor is one of the factors that separates the sheep from the goats. [See Matthew 25:31-46]
However, we miss the greater point of this Proverb if we only think of money and goods as a way that someone can be rich.
Perhaps you are rich in friends, in relationships, and have many people you can depend on to be there for you. Maybe you have many people who can count on you in good times and bad. However, if I have lots of acquaintances that I don’t truly appreciate, failing to nurture the relationships and express appreciation, then I am rich in the number of people I know, but have nothing – no real friends. If I choose to give myself in time and attention, prayer and fellowship with the people and the relationships God has put in my path, then I make myself poor in self-focus but rich in the blessing of those relationships.
Perhaps you are rich in talents. What are those talents used for? Someone with a beautiful singing voice may not be using it to bless others. You can sing at home and glorify God, of course. But could that talent be used to bless others at a nursing home, at church or at a children’s hospital? When we use our talents to serve or bless others, we make ourselves poor in a way because we are giving those things away for free. Yet that service of giving away a talent – using it to serve or bless others – provides spiritual richness now and a rich blessing in the Kingdom.
The focus of this Proverbs seems to be that giving away what we have makes us truly rich. You don’t have to take a vow of poverty and divest yourself of all material things. You don’t have to spend all your days giving away your talents. God understands that you need to make money and take care of family responsibilities.
But we become rich in many ways when we use what we have to bless others. We become rich in joy as we see the joy that our talents bring to others. When we use what we have to serve others we become rich in hope because we are storing up treasure for the Kingdom.
In addition, we have this promise from God in Luke 6:38 [NKJV] "Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you."
Luke 6:38 is showing us that we have a promise that whatever we give away will return to us abundantly. Therefore, we can only try to make ourselves poor by giving away the blessings that God has provided to us. Ultimately, it will not work – we cannot become poor by giving away our blessings – because God will bless us more abundantly for our efforts.
I this way, giving away the goods and talents with which God has blessed us is a bit like trying to remove the water from the ocean during a rainstorm. You cannot empty the ocean. And you will not be able to out-give our generous Abba. But we are supposed to try.
There are many ways in which you or I could be considered rich. God asks us to respond to any richness by giving it away, so that He can make us truly rich.
Prayer – Lord God, from whom all blessings flow, you have blessed me with riches from your storehouse in heaven. Lead me to find ways to give away the blessings of riches that You have specifically given to me. Help me to give them away so that I can truly be rich.
Your thoughts —
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