Proverbs 19:6-7
Many people entreat the favor of a generous person,
and everyone is the friend of the person who gives gifts.
All the relatives of a poor person hate him;
how much more do his friends avoid him—
he pursues them with words, but they do not respond.
I’ve never been a fan of favoritism. In fact, I’m more inclined to be on the other side of showing favoritism to someone. Especially someone who has money. But there are those who just can’t keep themselves from drooling all over the feet of those who have what they so desperately want.
And it drives me insane! Just because they’ve been able to accumulate wealth doesn’t mean the know anything about anything else. But we don’t see their foolishness in the rest of their lives, all wee see is the dollar signs behind their name. I could even argue that the chances are pretty good that those who have wealth are also likely to be very foolish in other areas of their lives because they’ve spent all their time and energy pursuing money instead of wisdom.
While I was travelling with the choir at Indiana Wesleyan, there was one facet of these tours that just disgusted me. I understand the need to expand and grow as an organization. And organizations that have good leadership will have a need to expand. However, what happened on these tours was there was a group of men who would talk to the wealthy people at every church we went to. Their sole purpose for being on the trip was to raise money for the school.
I know this is pretty standard for universities and other non-profits. However, just because it’s common place doesn’t mean it’s right. I don’t think it’s a problem to ask those that have money to give toward something. However, I think it works best within the confines of relationships and trust. Or, I can see how God could lead someone to give out of their abundance to their church or ministry they are involved in – something in which they’re invested in ways besides money. And I think we should challenge everyone equally to be generous. But, I don’t think we’re supposed to single out the rich people and try to wine and dine them into giving money to our cause, out of the blue. That’s just me though. And I’m not rich. And I could be wrong.
It kind of makes you question humanity. The way we are willing to beg for gifts and money. The way we will abandon those we love because they have made a decision that led to them losing everything. What kind of people must we be if money is the determining factor in relationships and not the people.
Don’t be like a moth attracted to light. Don’t let money lure you in while you ignore everything else. As often happens with moths, you could be pulled into your death.
