Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf. Proverbs 11.28
Being a ‘baby boomer’ (those born in the 50 - 60’s) the reactionary trend of this post, Second World War period was to excel. This reaction trend, like never before ushered in the consumerist society that we have today. Those who experienced the Great Depression, wartime & all the levels of poverty that went with it were determined in one thing - they and their families would never go through those times again. This resolve created a societal mind shift, where what mattered most was, peace, happiness and comfort. This ‘ideal’ only took money to get there. So with this mind shift, education, business, careers and manufacturing industries took off big time. After all if people wanted ‘things’ to satisfy their new ideal, ‘things’ had to be made and money was the requirement. So if there ever was an era that literally believed “money makes the world go round” it was this ‘boomer’ period.
Culture today has moved on - it now basks in a ‘get now and pay later’ period that was a result of a mind shift of an earlier generation. As a result, today, like never before whether at government, individual or family level, the need for money to solve so many of our issues is seen as the in all end all. Money is one of our culture’s gods!
But for the believer our view on money should and needs be different than that of the culture around us. We are not to live beyond our means, or wear ourselves ragged in pursuit of what riches can buy. That is not to be our ideal.
The Lord calls us to rather, “flourish” in the wealth of righteousness that God gives us in Jesus Christ. May the wealth the Lord gives us be truly laid submissively on the altar of our God, for it only then will we flourish like a green leaf.