My dear readers,

What are you getting out of your life?

Proverbs 16:8: “Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right.”

Spending a life is to live out a life. What we spend cannot be unspent. It is very important that we make as few mistakes as possible in spending our life. Every second that is spent will buy us something. The question is: What did we buy at the end of our lives? The world spends their life buying materialism. They buy properties, gold, silver, people, love, friends, houses, monuments, foundations, etc. All these things will be dissolved with fervent heat, says the LORD! The world refuses to see that: “As he came forth of his mother's womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand” (Eccles 5:15).

This world of the devil is bankrupt of true wealth and anything of eternal value. Materialism is the illusive promise that fuels the power of blindness that the prince of darkness has over the mind of the people of the world. The reason the gospel is rejected by many is due to the potency of the blindness of the god of this world. 2 Corinthians 4:3-4: “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” Before our salvation in Christ, we had also tasted this potency. The mind, the heart, and the whole being are consumed by this illusion of wealth and the luxurious good life. The spin of the devil is that with money, life will be good! The reality is that life becomes emptier with wealth. Life will always be skin deep on earth, in wealth or in poverty.

Proverbs 16:8 gives the knowledge and wisdom on how to spend our lives to the glory of God.

Choose the best – Every minute of life is about making choices. The steps we take and the words we speak culminate in the goals that we set for our lives. As children of God, we know that “better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right” [emphasis added]. The comparison of “better” is eternal versus temporal. There is great benefit to have wealth. This is seen in the lifestyle of the rich and famous. Billionaires live like kings. They buy everything their hearts desire. They fly in private jets. They cruise in private luxurious yachts. They live in mansions the size of a king’s palace. They have the best things life has to offer. But when they die, they die in sin like everyone else. They are not able to take with them one stitch of their princely garments. They leave behind their mountain of gold and all their mansions and luxurious goods. After they die in sin, like the rich man in Luke 16 they will cry from the depths of hell with torment, “... Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame” (Luke 16:24b). The fearful reply from Abraham shows how good it is to have righteousness: “... Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence” (Luke 16:25-26). Therefore King Solomon who lived as a king concluded to all who would listen that “…all is vanity” (Eccles 12:8).

A second biblical blessing why it is better to have little with righteousness is that the life lived on earth is by far richer and more abundant when it is not measured by what we possess physically. Our hearts are richer when we possess righteousness. This righteousness is from God in Christ only. All mankind are born in sin. They are born with a totally depraved nature. Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Sin is man’s master and the wages of sin is death. But in Christ, all who have truly received Christ as Lord and Saviour have been imputed with the righteousness of the law. A believer is righteous in Christ before God forever. He will only seek after all things righteous as he is now a righteous person. He is no longer bothered by the carnal standards of the world. Where he lives, how much he is worth, whether he travels first class or not, or lives in a tiny little flat or a kingly mansion matters not to him one bit. His heart and mind focus only on living a righteous life in and for Christ. He does not envy those who have all the money in the world. He lives in the spiritual plain of a personal and eternal fellowship with his Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

A third blessing is that as children of God our focus is on righteousness. With this righteous target in our sights we will continue to live in righteousness regardless of our external circumstances in life. Those who aim to be rich will die in sin and be buried in their riches. They become the slave of riches. They think they own their money when the reality is that money owns them. They cannot get rid of them even if they wanted to. This is the life of a captive slave. But when the focus is righteousness, fame and fortune will not distract or detract the child of God from his path of righteousness. He will make righteous judgments all his life regardless. This was the case with Daniel and Joseph who focused on righteousness, and when they were promoted to a life of wealth and power living in palaces, they remained faithful to the LORD, living in righteousness all their lives. The believer needs to avoid evil even as he lives righteously.

Avoid the bad – Choosing the best is not good enough if we do not avoid the bad. Many would avoid the worst but not the bad, i.e. the things that are not the worst. They feel that since it is only a little bad, the impact is minimal. Therefore it is harmless since it is only a little bit harmful. Take the sin of sexual promiscuity as an example. Many would not think of going to the brothel as this is destructive of life especially marriages. But these same individuals would not mind going to bars and clubs to have one-night stands. Then there are those who would reject all forms of fornication or adultery but they dabble in cyber pornography thinking that it hurts only their own minds and no one else. They hide it well within their heart. But Jesus says, “… That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart” (Matt 5:28). The same lusts that fuel the sexual appetite also fuel the lusts for materialism. The sin of the lust of the flesh comprises all desires including food, sports and all things that the body craves after.

The warning from God is: “better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right” [emphasis added]. Then again, just because we live in HDB flats and not in palaces does not mean that we are living in righteousness. Beware that poverty is not spirituality. Neither can we conclude that wealth is carnality, for King David was wealthy but he was also called by God as a man after His heart. The pursuit of righteousness in life is only possible for a man who has been made right by God in Christ. Whether we live in a one-room flat or a palace, possess no bank account or own the whole world, we need to keep our eyes on righteousness, for this is what every child of God can and must do to live a life pleasing to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Is your life righteous in Christ?

Food for thought -- Mark 8:36: “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”