50 DAYS OF WISDOM - DAY 42 "THE QUICKEST WAY TO WEALTH" PROVERBS 18:23

SALT WATER

My travel pack. I been to 42 countries and 40 US states. Best is yet to come

CLEAN WATER

Nothing like the feeling of delivering water to people who need it. A lifelong journey

LIVING WATER

Coconuts and conversation after a surf with my brothas. My idea of a good day talking about a good God

Dr. Ryan here. Today I want to talk to you about why the Bible teaches self-determination, the ability to create a life for yourself, to determine the outcome of your life as it relates to your work.

Proverbs 18 23 says, the poor man uses entreaties but the rich man answers roughly. Let's break this down. We've been taking one episode to look at one scripture recently as there's been alot here in Proverbs 18 that we want to dig into.

Now it says the poor in this scripture. Now this is the person who is constantly in want and is constantly hungry. There's two versions of being poor. One is just the need for food. You need food to live. You need water to live. You need food to live. You need some clothes to put on your body to live. So that's sort of the base definition.

The first definition of being poor is to constantly be in want. Now you can have an immeasurable amount of physical wealth and constantly be in want. This is an unsubstantiated thirst. It's an unquenched appetite for more. So again the base definition is to be hungry.

The second definition is to constantly be in want. Actually to constantly be in want is the worst of the two definitions because the first definition can be solved with food. The second definition takes a variety of things to quench the immediate need and then the bullseye or the target for that want is always changing. It's more land, more homes, more cars, more relationships, more money, etc. So the Bible teaches us that what's the opposite of being poor? Well it's to be full so to actually to have food. You know you're rich if you have food. A lot of people in the world that don't have food.

Third - The best definition is to not want anything. You know the quickest way to get wealth is to quit wanting stuff and appreciate what you have. I believe the Bible teaches not to want more but to want what you already have. To want the home you have. To want the bicycle you have. To want the surfboard you have. To want the friends you have. Our restlessness in our life causes us to unappreciate what we already have and then to just constantly want to get more even though it's very hard to put our finger on exactly what that means.

Fourth - So the poor man, the person who is hungry or the person who's constantly in want uses entreaties. Now this word means plead. So the poor man is pleading all the time. The poor man is pleading all the time. Give me food. The poor man is pleading all the time. Give me more. My appetites aren't satisfied. Now compare this to the rich man. It says but the rich answers roughly. This word roughly means harsh or fierce. It addresses the greed component of what the poor man is dealing with. So another way of looking at this is but the rich answers harshly to the greed that it sees in the poor man. The rich answer answers harshly to the greed that he sees in the poor man.

Fifth - The poor man always being hungry. Being hungry because they won't work. The Bible says that you work and then you eat. You don't work, you don't eat. And then the greed that comes with always being in want. So contentment teaches us true riches. True riches is being happy that you have food and being stoked with what you already have in your life. That my friend is true biblical wealth.

Well thanks so much for joining me. Until next time I hope you have a beautiful day.