Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine. Proverbs 3:9-10
“There are good things, bad things and things that are indifferent. Some of the things that are indifferent people consider to be good or bad while in reality they are neither. I will give you an example, to explain my meaning more clearly.
Poverty is in general thought to be evil. Not so; if someone who is poor practices watchfulness and wisdom, poverty itself can completely overcome evil.
On the other hand, wealth is regarded as a good thing by most people. But that is not entirely true: it depends how you use it. If wealth were a good thing in itself and on its own account, then everyone who possesses it ought to be good. Yet, not all rich people are virtuous, only those who manage their money in a responsible way. Therefore, wealth is not a good thing in itself, it is only an instrument for doing good.
So with regard to indifferent things: they are either good or bad according to the use that is made of them.”
John Chrysostom in Commentary on Isaiah, 3ff (PG 56, 146) in in Drinking from the Hidden Fountain: A Patristic Breviary, Ancient Wisdom for Today’s World, ed. by Thomas Spidlik (Kalamazoo: Cistercian, 1994) 46.
It’s hard to keep my days straight while traveling and tech issues delayed this post. It’s Monday morning in Istanbul en route to Cairo. Don’t know why it did not post before I left Seoul.
To my Father, Jack Hoag, in Lake Wales, Florida, I want to send birthday greetings. Happy 81st Birthday, Dad. I love you. Thank you for teaching me to use wealth as an instrument for good.
By the time you read this, I will be looking toward my next assignment which is teaching on “Wealth in the Old Testament” on Monday to African seminary leaders convening in Cairo.
Wealth is an indifferent thing. It can be an instrument of good or evil. It shows where we place our trust. Today’s Proverb reminds us that we must honor the Lord with it.
We must be sure, however, to read such Proverbs descriptively, and not prescriptively. Descriptively is shows us God’s design. Generosity will not leave us empty but rather enriched.
A prescriptive reading, however, results in prosperity gospel, or to put it plainly, a way people would attempt to manipulate God. I will do this so God will give back to me. Giving to get. Don’t go there.
If you want my handout from today’s talk, simply reply to this email and I’d be happy to share it with you. And please pray for Spirit-led teaching and receptive hearts. Thanks.