Day 160
The beauty of Proverbs is that it makes you check yourself daily. My mum always wanted us to read the book of Proverbs monthly. It’s like a course correction — as you go through your day, interactions, thoughts etc.
19:2 emphasises the need to carry out research before jumping into something. It says, ‘Desire without knowledge is not good, and whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way’.
19:10 — According to this verse, a fool should ordinarily not live in luxury. Conversely, it is fitting for the wise to live in luxury. Ok, my point is luxury isn’t bad, and we shouldn’t ‘condemn’ others for wanting more out of life. This takes me back to several times I have seen people ‘judge’ others for they go about making legitimate money once they disapprove of it. It’s ok to have deferring approaches, but that you disagree with theirs doesn’t make yours more right than theirs. I also think the law of relativity also applies here, but this isn’t a ‘lecture’ on laws, so I’ll save it.
19:22 shows that in the end, it is God’s purpose that will remain.
20:19 — ‘Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty; open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread’. These days, we see people work to the point of being burnt out, all in the bead to have plenty of bread. The same proverbs talk about good judgement.
20:23- I smiled when I read this verse; it happened then too?! When I was younger and used to go to the local markets, some of the market women adjusted their scales to make more — what a poverty mentality. I don’t know if that’s still the case, it’s been a while, but I think something similar still happens at filling stations. The question is, why must we cheat others to have more for ourselves? When we do that, we are not operating from a place of abundance.
21:2 says that the intent of our hearts matters at the end of the day. What is the why behind that thing one is doing or giving? While it may look good on the outside to humans, what is really on the inside? That is what interests God.
21:17&20 are great pieces of financial advice. I don’t think it is bad to like a luxury but at what expense? Is it simply to keep up with the Joneses? Some people spend first and save what is left after spending. The better thing to do is to save/invest, then spend. I also understand that different phases of life bring about different approaches, and sometimes people just have enough to be alive. That is why discernment is critical. Someone said you hadn’t earned a right to luxury if your income doesn’t cover your financial duties with much more left over. I understand this; whenever I spend on something ‘luxurious’, I ensure I have saved at least 2ce of that amount. I use an approach called mindful spending. It helps me have the best of both worlds — budgeting and luxury. Not also finance class, so I’ll stop here.
