Daily Devotional for Friday, October 17

As a Man Thinks

“Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats: for as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee,” Proverbs 23:6, 7.

I want to tread carefully here so as not to unfairly malign those who happen to have lots of money. God sometimes blesses people with great riches, and the upright and honorable among the rich certainly exist. On the other hand, that is not always, or even typically so. The love of money is the root of all evil, right (1 Timothy 6:10)? For the most part, what is the objective of most rich business people? Mostly, it is to amass more money than they can ever spend. To add to the issue, most people are more than willing to use others to achieve their goals.

That is the essential background of the proverb here. It seems a wealthy fellow is dining with a not-so-rich fellow and faking hospitality and friendship. Why? It is hard to say, but this might be a man who has amassed wealth at the expense of the poor. It may be that this meal is only another attempt to extract yet more wealth at the expense of another. So, this man fakes hospitality and friendship to accomplish his goals. His deceit is discovered to the great disgust of his guest.

This may sound cynical, but people are not trustworthy for the most part. That is because we are sinners. Even God’s children may not always deal honestly. But did you know God never lies? Always remember that you can always get the truth from your Heavenly Father. When you sit at His table, He will always deal honestly to accomplish what is best.

JUST A THOUGHT

While most people want you to accomplish what is best for them, God wants you to accomplish what is best, period.

Wally Fry