Proverbs 11

Proverbs 11:28 - "Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf."

What a lesson we have learned in the past couple years about the place of wealth and the trust we place in it. It has been a tough lesson to learn, and the economy has certainly taught me some things about how much I trust in money. Scarily, I am not sure we have entirely shaken our trust in wealth, because it is unfortunately ingrained in our human nature. We want to find self-worth and value, and our modern society likes something quantifiable. We trust in the bottom line, how much stuff we have, the current generation (including mine) quantifies friendship into a "friend count" on facebook, twitter and other social networking sites. We quantify our goodness into number of hours spent doing community service or other ministry, and anything we do can be made into a number.

But how do you quantify righteousness? Do I have a righteousness quotient? Who decides how that works? It certainly isn't me, because I would emphasize the things I want to emphasize and leave out the stuff I'm not so good at. No one can write a righteousness quotient, because we are not meant to break ourselves down into a group of numbers. Instead, we are to view ourselves in terms of relationship. Righteousness is about a person's standing before someone else. Relationships are not quantifiable sciences, they go deeper than numbers and game theory. And when we base ourselves in our relationship with God and neighbor, we see how we are really functioning in God's plan and world.

But that doesn't mean we rest on our own personal righteousness. Indeed, any righteousness (relationship) we have is really a gift from God. Because Christ died and rose again, we are seen through a Christ-shaped lens in God's eye. So today, I give thanks that my riches are not trustworthy, but my position with God is. Amen.

What proverb stuck out to you today?