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Thought for the Day : Proverbs 10:15

v.15   The wealth of the rich is their fortified city, but poverty is the ruin of the poor.

Riches and poverty. Some people romanticise poverty. Not so the writer of the Proverbs! Riches become the security for the rich man. They guard against hunger, provide against much illness, they open the doors for the future. All good gifts come from above (James 1:17 ), from God. Yet reliance on riches and not on God is folly. The temptation of riches is to make you feel secure and self sufficient. That's why Jesus said “it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 19:23 ). Would the world be a better place if EVERYONE was rich? Probably not, it would just mean a world of rich sinners! Poverty does not help - it merely brings hardship, ill-health and life breakdown.

When Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor” (Mt 5:3) he added, “…in spirit”. Awareness of spiritual poverty is of value, not material poverty. That's why Paul took a collection for the needy Jews of Jerusalem in a time of famine (see 2 Cor 8,9). If we have plenty we should share with the needy when we can (1 Jn 3:17 ). There is nothing glorious about poverty! In their poverty the poor person is tempted to use wrong means to get by. Is that surprising? No. Until we've lived with real poverty we'll perhaps never understand this. A visit to the slums of the world means you will never be the same again.

Today will my security be in God, not in my affluence? Today will I feel for the poor? Jesus said we will always have the poor with us (Matt 26:11) but that is not to mean we should not help at least one such person. Can my affluence today be used as a blessing for another? Don't be put off by the millions, start with one.