Better to Be Poor

For Wednesday, November 1, 2006
Proverbs 19:1

(Note: After completing chapters 10-18, we returned to the beginning of Proverbs and covered through chapter 9. We are now picking up where we left off.)

Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity
than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool.

In this season of elections, we could paraphrase this to say, "Better is a person poor in politics..." Evidently this proverb believes there is too high a price to pay for crookedness. The lost of integrity is worse than the loss of money and position. The world considers a person not willing to "compromise" the truth to achieve a goal to be a fool. So be it. God, through his Word, declares a person who compromises integrity to be a fool. Whose judgment is more likely to be correct? In the end, who more likely will see that his judgment is vindicated?

This applies to more than politicians. It applies to preachers who are crooked with Scripture. It applies to business people crooked about their services and products. It applies to teachers crooked with their responsibilities to their students. The list goes on. Where is the person willing to sacrifice election, promotion, fame, money, job for the sake of integrity? Where is the "fool" who will counts favor with God as greater value than achieving worldly success?

There is only one - Jesus Christ, who walked in integrity even unto his death. Let us walk behind him, leaning on him, until we reach the destination he has prepared for us in our heavenly city.