Good, Better, Best

Better is a little with the fear of the LORD, than great treasure with trouble.

Proverbs 15:16

Have you studied the “Better” verses in the book of Proverbs? There are more than twenty of them—“Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a fatted calf with hatred.” “Better is a little with righteousness, than vast revenues without justice.” “Better is a dry morsel with quietness, than a house full of feasting with strife” (Proverbs 15:17; 16:8; 17:1).

It’s not that the “fatted calf,” “vast revenues,” and the “house full of feasting” are all wrong. It’s just that they’re inferior. In our materialistic age, we forget that true wealth is gauged by our enjoyment of what we have, not by our longing for more. It’s measured by its worth to God’s Kingdom.

In Strengthening Your Grip, Charles Swindoll points out that money can buy medicine but not health. It can purchase a house but not a home. It can buy companionship but not friends. It can provide a bed but not sleep.

Keep God first in your life and in your finances. Thank Him for the things you have, but remember: “Better is the poor who walks in his integrity than one perverse in his ways, though he be rich” (Proverbs 28:6). It is God who “gives us richly all things to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17)—and that’s the best thing of all.

Money can buy the good life, but not eternal life.

CHARLES SWINDOLL