By Kevin Harris, pastor of the Illawarra Community Baptist Church in Wollongong, NSW
Wealth maketh many friends; but the poor is separated from his neighbour…. Many will intreat the favour of the prince: and every man is a friend to him that giveth gifts. All the brethren of the poor do hate him: how much more do his friends go far from him? he pursueth them with words, yet they are wanting to him.
Proverbs 19:4, 6-7
One day ‘out of the blue’ I received a phone call from a relative who rarely spoke to me. He was preparing to meet someone we knew who could give him money. After two minutes of conversing, he hung up, and went back to rarely contacting me. Sure enough he got the money. It was apparent to me that he wanted to drop my name to this person who could benefit his wallet.
Today’s verses address this error.
A person’s prestige doesn’t impress the Lord. People matter to Him simply because they are His creation.
Proverbs 14:31 says, ‘He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker: but he that honoureth him hath mercy on the poor.’ We honour the Lord when we honour one whom He has made.
By way of contrast, most of us judge a person’s significance by their wealth or position. We naturally want to catch the eye of the person who might benefit us, give us a better job, throw a few dollars our way, or add to our reputation. We do this by posting photos of ourselves with them, or by name-dropping, or by similar schemes.
The result is there in verse 7. If you are a ‘nobody’ that I perceive can’t benefit me in some way, I won’t even give you a second glance or even bother to ask your name. If you’re not important, it’ll be like pulling teeth to get me to respond to your emails or phone calls.
Father, I praise You that everyone matters to You. Help me to love people because You do. Make the smallest child, the shabbiest woman, the lowliest man, as important to me as the wealthiest entrepreneur. Help me think this way and act this way so that You Who notice all can be pleased with Your servant. I ask this in the Name of the Lord Jesus, Amen.
This article was written by Kevin Harris Dapto pastor of Illawarra Community Baptist Church.