Two Hazardous Extremes

Great prosperity and severe poverty are both hazardous extremes, for they can equally cause major spiritual problems  (1 Timothy 6:8-10; cf. Luke 12:16-21 NLT).

Agur, the writer of Proverbs 30, must have known of this danger when he prayed:

“Remove falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches — feed me with the food allotted to me; lest I be full and deny You, and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ or lest I be poor and steal, and profane the name of my God” (Proverbs 30:8-9).

Instead of always asking and seeking for more and more, perhaps we too should seek the balance expressed in the above proverb.

Contentment is realizing that God will provide us all that we “need” no matter what our circumstances might be (Matthew 6:7-8; 2 Corinthians 9:8; Philippians 4:11 NLT).

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets