Proverbs 13:10
Only by pride comes contention: but with the well advised is wisdom.
Here is the explanation for all the wars, fighting, and strife in the world. If there is contention going on in your home, or if there is division happening in your church community, just sniff around a bit. You will quickly pick up the bitter aroma of pride somewhere in the area. In fact, pride is mentioned here as the sole cause, or better, the primary cause of contention. At any given point in time, there are always two or three contentions going on in a church community. Occasionally, meetings will erupt in contention. In these situations, it is appropriate for all the players involved to examine themselves for slight remnants of pride. There may be other sins involved, but it is certain that pride is lurking in the hearts of those who are involved in bitter contention with one another. There is only one remedy for the problem of pride, and that is to “humble yourself before the mighty hand of God, for in due time, He will lift you up” (1 Pet. 5:6). Then in deep humility, go to your brother and acknowledge your sin in the affair. Whether or not he will admit to his own sin is not your primary concern.
This world is filled with contentions, conundrums, and difficult relationships. In any contention, there are always at least two sides to the story, and it is not always obvious how to resolve the problems. Anyone who jumps to conclusions based on only one side of the story or some limited perspective on the problem is foolish. Typically, the wisest man in the room is the one who asks the most questions, contemplates the issues for the longest while, and then limits his conclusions to that of which he is reasonably confident.
Proverbs 13:11
Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathers by labour shall increase.
Much of the activity that consumes the average person in the present day is just plain vanity. As wealthy societies carve out more leisure time for themselves, they usually create billion dollar industries in which people can entertain themselves into an escapist reality. Prior to the 1830s, there were no professional pseudo-sports teams, no movies, no television, and very few novels. Today, the average citizen is utterly immersed in these pastimes, and the economies of entire states like Nevada are reliant on what is known as “adult entertainment.”
There are two ways to look at how wealth is gotten by vain endeavors. First, there are those that build huge economic systems upon escapist and addictive forms of entertainment. We must be careful not to condemn all art, music, theater, and the like, as those things are meant to aid us in enjoying and understanding God and His creation. But to the extent that sports, music, and theater are used to escape God and His reality, they become counter-productive to the way God wants us to live and take dominion over His creation. At the end of the Roman empire, the citizenry was crying out for their “bread and games” while foreign nations routed the capital city. They were too busy watching the games to defend their city from the invaders. Christians ought to be careful how much of their cumulative resources are dedicated towards supporting a complex of sports and entertainment that undermines a biblical world and life view. If too many of our resources are invested in vain activities, we will see that economic value diminish quickly in years to come.
But this passage is also a warning to those who want to gain wealth by betting on the games and gambling in casinos. Pushing a button or pulling a lever of a slot machine for hours on end is far less productive than planting seeds in a field or feeding chickens in the yard! Suppose you did win a million dollars playing poker for a thousand hours. Think of all of the things you could have accomplished in one thousand hours, if you had not wasted your time in a card game! Moreover, the others playing the game also waste precious time, and lose money that could have been well invested in other endeavors. Their impoverished families also suffer. Not only did their fathers lose money at the card table, but they also wasted a great deal of precious time playing cards that could have been invested in productive labor.
This proverb ends with a wonderful promise to those who will take it to heart. When you seek out worthwhile, productive endeavors, which usually involve gathering the produce that God has already planted somewhere in the earth—whether it be corn, wheat, sunflower seeds, berries, oil, coal, nickel, or iron ore—you will find yourself increasing in wealth. Naturally, the act of gathering requires hard work; but God promises good rewards. The only reason economies are breaking down today is that people are constantly seeking out easier ways to gain wealth, through heavily leveraged (debted) investments. As we begin to rebuild our economies over the next one hundred years, we must remember that most of our wealth will be produced only by “gathering!”
1. How much contention are we seeing in our home? How much pride do we see in our own lives? Do you see any correlation between these two things?
2. How are we “redeeming the time” that God gives us? Do we waste inordinate time on sports and entertainment?
3. If you were given the choice of investing your time and money in the following, which would you choose and why?
a. A week long vacation to Las Vegas playing slot machines
b. Business stock in a company that was investigating how to turn water into an energy source
c. A Christian ministry providing Bibles to Chinese Christians
d. A Christian orphanage in Zambia
e. Establishing or expanding your own business