Prov 8:18 [ESV] Riches and honour are with me, enduring wealth and righteousness,
When I left working for Church it was a difficult decision. I enjoyed the pastoral role, but had moved to a different role and was really not enjoying a large part of that role. I had said no to the role before and should have held that position in hindsight.
I was offered a great role with another Profit-For-Purpose Christian organisation – and accepted – it was a really great role, really rewarding and challenging. Three months in the whole organisation restructured, and my role was gone over night. Wow. I was on a contract that offered four weeks’ notice. It was a shock.
The contract was changed to six months’ notice, and after a couple of weeks a “deed of release” was provided and the full eighteen months of my contract was paid out – and 12 months was an ex-gratis payment at 17% tax.
In the end – I worked there for three months and walked away with the equivalent of 24 months take home salary.
I worked for myself as a coach for three months making a good income, and then was phoned and offered a new State-wide role (at the age of 66 years), with a Christian organisation, which I accepted – and am working in today. It’s a role aligned with the Gospel.
Honestly, I regularly feel like I’m not really that’s great a Christian, and that I don’t really seek God enough, or walk closely enough with Him each day. I wonder if that’s actually a healthy thing in some ways.
KNOWLEDGE – the greatest blessing available to anyone I believe is when we are walking in obedience with God and the peace, joy, and inner contentment that goes with that. There can be no greater riches than this anywhere. And this passage definitely has that in mind – but it’s more than that – there is a promise of material wealth here. The key take-home is that the two aspects are inseparable – and so the concept of obtaining material wealth accompanied by God’s blessings, without reference to a deep committed daily relationship with God, – so somehow inferring that’s this is the right of all believers regardless of and separate from their daily walk with God, is mis-leading and damaging.
UNDERSTANDING
Let’s pick one word from this verse to look closer at and see if that can help us gain a deeper insight into how God would love us to live?
The word used for “enduring” in Hebrew is pronounced as “ateq” and means “enduring (wealth)”.
In the LXX the words are changed from “enduring (wealth), to “property much – κτήσις πολλών [ktesis pollon]”. Κτήσις appears 19 times in the New testament and carries the meaning of “creation”. So the word used for “property” can also be “creation”.
WISDOM
What do I need to consider and say yes to today? What should I be saying no to?
STRENGTHS THOUGHT: The Gallup Strength of Responsibility takes psychological ownership of its commitments – when we say “yes” to the right things at the right time, amazing things can happen. A strong “yes”, requires an equally strong “no”.
Allan’s Unauthorised Version – Riches and wealth and splendour, honour and glory are with me, enduring wealth, riches and possessions, along with doing what is right according to God’s word.
Riches – riches and wealth
and honour are with me – and splendour, honour and glory are with me
enduring – enduring wealth,
wealth – riches, and possessions
and righteousness – doing what is right according to God’s standard.
PRAYER: Father, thank you for today. Help me to receive all you ahevfor me and to be a coduit for blessings to others.
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