Today's Scripture Reading (August 16, 2022): Psalm 49
Mark Twain commented, "Whenever
you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to reform." I
have to admit that Twain's words come back to me whenever I find myself in the
minority, a place that I well know. Twain's inference is that the majority
usually stands in error. Wisdom is often with the minority. That may be because
exercising wisdom is usually a more difficult path. And maybe that is the
problem with our governments. If most people agree with the person elected or
with the policies instituted, then perhaps all that means is that we are on the
wrong track.
Psalms are written with various
intentions in mind. Some are prayers directed at God. Others are laments or
complaints about the hardships of life. Others are written from a position of
praise. But this Psalm intends to impart wisdom to the reader. Specifically,
the Psalm discourages the pursuit of wealth, advocating for the things money
can't buy. Wisdom in life is not chasing after the things that will not make us
content or happy.
And yet, we still chase after money
and the material things we want—almost every conversation I have with younger
people centers around the idea of attaining wealth. There has also been a
movement over the past few generations to want the nice things in life now.
Once, it was acceptable to understand that being young meant struggling to get
by, but now we seem to desire the things that wealth brings immediately. We
have to have our dream car now. Our dream house now. We are unwilling to wait
until we have saved up the money required to purchase the nice things in life. We
have believed the lie sold to us by Credit Card companies that tell us we can
have those nice things now and pay for them later. The truth is that that kind
of buying Is designed to keep the banks rich and us poor.
Some years ago, I met with a young
couple planning to get married. I remember our talk about finances took place
across a table at Tim Horton's. With our coffees in hand, we talked about
money. And then they leveled the surprise. She had acquired $80,000 in debt, which
was disturbing, considering that the couple didn't own any property. But his
number was even higher, topping out just over $100,000 in debt. They bought
everything they wanted, even though they didn't have the money. They were living
the life they wanted, and as long as their health held, they could make
payments on their debt. But trying to buy a house was out of the question. And
one minor misstep would bring their financial house down on top of them.
I wanted to advise the couple to
walk out of different doors of the coffee shop and never meet again, but that
advice wouldn't be accepted. They were going to have to live a life of poverty
even though they were making good money. But if they were willing to live a
life like none of their friends were living now, they could emerge financially
healthy and get out of the financial
hole they had dug for themselves. And so we began to talk about the necessary
steps to retire the debt as quickly as possible.
The paradoxical truth is that when
we chase after material things, the one thing we won't attain is wealth. Most
people who have achieved wealth did so while chasing something else. They
denied their wants and lived within the amount of money they possessed. They
saved for the things they wanted to buy, and in the process, they attained
wealth that most of us will never know.
Wisdom goes against the common
behavior of the day. With easy credit, we believe we can have everything now
and pay for it later. But there is a better way, a wiser way. It is a harder
route, but in the end, we will be in a much better place than if we had spent
our whole life chasing after wealth. And we will have invested in the really
important things rather than the things we think are important. It is a path
that few take, but it is the path of wisdom.
Today's Scripture Reading: Psalms
66 & 67
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