Proverbial Hump Day: Proverbs 13:8

Is your life ransomed?

The Bible often offers strange words of encouragement and wild, weird insights. Proverbs 13:8 is the perfect example.

Riches may ransom a man’s life, but a poor man hears no threat.

Why Do Riches Ransom a Man’s Life?

In America, wealth is over-celebrated. In fact, it’s quite common to hear someone claim that wealth provides freedom. It’s common wisdom in our culture that the more money you possess the more freedom you have. If you have a lot of money, the saying goes, you have more options available to you. You have more financial freedom.

Well, the Bible disagrees and Proverbs 13:8 is the proof.

Wealth enslaves. A man with a lot of possessions has a lot of obligations. For instance, take a CEO of a corporation whose salary is on the north end of six figures. He probably has stock options and a nice performance package that kicks in should his company grow. But those benefits are available to him because of the amount of responsibility he has taken on. He likely has thousands of employees who rely on him for their financial well-being and he is on the clock 24/7. That doesn’t sound like freedom.

Wealth ties a man down. The only sure way to achieve financial freedom is to be debt-free, but it’s more important to be spiritually free and there’s only one way for that to happen—through faith in Jesus Christ.

A Poor Man is Not Threatened

One need not be wealthy to be happy. A poor man isn’t necessarily in debt. He may simply decide to shun debt and live within his means—a wise choice indeed. But why is he not threatened?

The poor are not threatened with slavery because wealth is not their master. Insofar as the poor are not driven by the love of money, they are free. And they can be happy. Their lives are not threatened by the obligations and responsibilities—the strings—that come with great wealth. This is a good thing.

It is through the poverty of Christ that we are made rich. Spiritually speaking.

Are you putting your hope in worldly wealth or in Jesus Christ?

Allen Taylor is the author of I Am Not the King.