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Wealth of the Poor

15 

The wealth of the rich is their fortress;
     the poverty of the poor is their destruction.

16 

The earnings of the godly enhance their lives,
     but evil people squander their money on sin.

Verse 15

This is true, but it is not good. A rich man can use his money to protect himself. A poor person cannot do this. When there is danger, the poor man suffers first. As Christians, we should care about poor people. We should give money to help them. See Ephesians 2:10.

Verse 16

Wealth brings some good things, but wealth cannot give a good life. Solomon does not write, ‘a rich man earns a good life’. He writes, ‘a good man earns a good life’. We can be confident of this. This is like wages for a job.

However, we cannot earn heaven. This is because we cannot make ourselves good. We have all done evil things. We all deserve punishment. Only God can forgive us. We must trust in God. God can make us good. Jesus died to suffer our punishment.

Proverbs lays it out straight, no sugarcoating. In the real world, it says wealth is like a fortress for the rich, while poverty is like a wrecking ball for the poor. It doesn't care whether you ended up poor because you were lazy or because life dealt you a bad hand. Either way, being poor puts you at the mercy of the wealthy, and let's face it, they're not usually lining up to help out.

Now, here's the twist: You'd think doing good stuff would lead to a good outcome, right? But Proverbs throws a curveball. It says the work of righteous people leads to life, while the work of the wicked leads to sin. But hang on, isn't sin supposed to lead to death? Well, yeah, later on, Proverbs does say that. And in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul doubles down on this idea, saying that the payment for sin is death, but thanks to Jesus, we get the gift of eternal life.

So, let me ask you. Are you rich? Maybe you don't see yourself that way, but compared to a lot of folks in the world, chances are you're sitting pretty well off.

Struggle to Standing. Available on Amazon.  https://a.co/d/ev3YUqw

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