The rich and the poor meet together;
the Lord is the Maker of them all.
Proverbs 22:2 ESV
How often do we size up those people around us, say for example at an amusement park as we wait in line for the ride. In such a setting, have you ever looked at an obviously poor family and wondered, “My heavens, how did they even afford the tickets much less the $6 bag of cotton candy?” Our culture evaluates the relative value of people on a variety of criteria, but wealth is one of the significant considerations.
Here, the writer makes the point that before the Lord, rich and poor have the same intrinsic value since God made them both. I’m not greater than that guy because I have more money than he does. And I’m not lesser than that guy because he has more money than I. However, that is not to say that God doesn’t distinguish between us. God focuses on non-physical considerations. In other words, God looks on the heart. For example,
Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity
than a rich man who is crooked in his ways.
Proverbs 28:6 ESV
This is a reminder to me to examine myself more closely in terms of my heart than my bank account.
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