For today, One Year Bible Online links here.
The writer tells us his purpose in writing these proverbs: to teach us to be honest and to speak the truth. Reading Proverbs is a good way to come to the realization about how important those things are.
If you trust in the Lord, and live your life accordingly, you have no need to fear those who trust in their wealth. No matter how wealthy someone is, no matter how powerful they are, no matter what connections they have, they will be unable to redeem themselves from death. There is no amount of money which will allow someone to avoid death and live forever. Ultimately, everyone will die, even the fabulously wealthy (special case for those who serve Christ and are still alive when He returns). Even if someone uses their wealth to build a great monument to themselves, eventually it will crumble and their name will be forgotten.
Accumulating material wealth serves no eternal purpose. We cannot take it with us. The only wealth which will last into the next life is that which we have stored with God, and that is the rewards He gives us for serving Him.
We should eagerly give of what we have in order to help those who are struggling. The key is not how much we give, but that we give eagerly. Our giving should be in proportion to what we have. If we have more than others, we should eagerly give more than those others. If on the other hand, we have less than others we should not feel obligated to give as much as they do. We should seek to give so as to make others lives easier, but not so much as to make our lives hard. Paul quotes from Exodus to spell out what our goal should be:
and those who gathered only a little had enough.”
My Dad often made a statement which I think reflects what Paul is teaching here, “There is nothing wrong with a Christian being on welfare, and there is nothing wrong with a Christian being a millionaire. However, there is something wrong if a congregation has both a millionaire and someone on welfare.” He was very clear that he was not willing to say from outside the situation which one of those two was in the wrong, just that as Christians we should both be willing to help our fellow believers and accept help from our fellow believers. In the Church, those who are well off financially should strive to help those who are struggling financially, and those who are struggling financially should accept the help of those who are well off. That help does not necessarily come in the form of financial assistance, although that should play a part in the assistance.
Throughout this passage the writer gives a lot of good advice. However towards the end he gives us the key to meaning. He tells us that the young should enjoy every minute of their lives, but not allow that enjoyment to cause them to forget our Creator. On the other hand, he tells those who live to an old age to enjoy every day of life they receive as a gift from God, while remembering that dark days will come. Overall, let us remember the Lord while our bodies are healthy enough to do His work.