Eternal things

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

ETERNAL THINGS

Prov 20:15

15 Gold there is, and rubies in abundance, but lips that speak knowledge are a rare jewel.

NIV

Certainly during the time of Solomon there was an abundance of gold and rubies.

1 Kings 10:21-22

1 All King Solomon's goblets were gold, and all the household articles in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Nothing was made of silver, because silver was considered of little value in Solomon's days. 22 The king had a fleet of trading ships at sea along with the ships of Hiram. Once every three years it returned, carrying gold, silver and ivory, and apes and baboons.

NIV

Even before that the Israelites carried enough gold, silver and bronze to make the tabernacle and before that the golden calf. Gold was and still seems to be a sought after commodity. In fact there are many companies today that spent thousands of dollars on ads trying to convince us to buy their gold to secure our financial future. The point of this proverb is it would be far better in the eyes of God to chase after his knowledge then the world’s wealth. It is so easy to get caught up in the trap of chasing after gold. We have to need a certain portion of money to live. There are the things of necessity, a place to live, food to eat and clothes to wear, and of course in our mobile society a car to drive, so we can get to work in order to make the money needed to buy those things. But then there is the extreme, hoarding as much as it we can for some later day. Making the accumulation of gold our life’s journey, or goal is when we get into trouble. Yes, there is something to be said about having enough for emergencies or budgeting for a known future needs, such as maintenance of things. But the idea is that we should not make the pursuit of our life after storing money up. We should make our life be one that pursues after the knowledge of God and speak it to others. Here we are told that if our lips speak about the things of God, they are a rare jewel which is far more precious than gold and rubies. So then should not our conversations be about the things of God rather than the things of this world? So much of our conversations are so mundane, so useless, so without substance, it is a wonder if anyone knows we are different then everyone else. We fill our days with useless words, how can that be? Chitter chatter, nonsense, yet we should be speaking words of knowledge. Let us make sure we are not chasing after gold, but after God. Let us make him, his knowledge the main focus of our life. All else will perish but his word.

Matt 24:35

35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

NIV

Let our lips speak of eternal things.