Better a little with the fear of the Lord than great wealth with turmoil.
Proverbs 15:16 (NIV)
Better is Little
Georgian Bay Islands National Park is Canada’s smallest park and it protects 63 Ontario islands within the world’s largest freshwater archipelago. It straddles two ecoregions as it lies on the southern edge of the Canadian Shield where windswept white pines and Precambrian granite shores transition to a mixed coniferous and hardwood forest dominated by sugar maples and beech trees. The main island, Beausoleil, is eight kilometres (five miles) long and shows Canadian Shield at its north end and Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Forest Region at its south end.
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Over the past few days we have been looking at what the Bible says about financial principles and the part that hard work plays in success in this world. Today we are going bring some balance to those principles. King Solomon looked at the lives of people around him and noticed that those who are all talk and no action do not do well in this world. He makes the point that hard work leads to profit. But then he says this, in Proverbs 15:16: “Better a little with the fear of the Lord than great wealth with turmoil.” It is true that hard work and careful care of personal finances can lead to financial success. But if all you are living for is to be successful, you have missed the point. We see that so often in the rich and famous in our world – so often they are personally miserable. It gets to what author Jonathan Swift once wrote: “A wise person should have money in their head, but not in their heart.” Your heart should only contain Jesus – anything or anyone else there is idolatry. Jesus MUST be our everything.
These have been words from the heart.
Bob Beasley