What the Bible Says about Finances and Parenting: Proverbs 22:1-29

You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a

couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun in

practical ways. Good morning, good morning, we talk do good moaning,

good moan to.

You and you and you.

Wow.

Hey, that's a way to kick off on Monday.

That is fantastic. I mean, what better way to start

the week?

You know what? I was just I'm wondering if there

is one, Jeff.

I don't think there is. I don't think there is.

That is fabulous, fabulous, fabulous.

Well, today we are, first of all, welcome to the

Bible Guys, and today we're going to kick off with

a segment the Desirae has been.

By the way, this I.

Think is my favorite segment is I think so really

I look forward to it, you know how, like you

wonder if it?

Well, let me ask you this, would you rather do it?

Would you rather? Or what made Chris mad this week?

I think I would rather do it? Would you rather?

Okay?

Wow?

Yeah, Well there's there's an going for you. I'm feeling

magnanimous and generous.

By the way, the end of this week, it is

U make christmad this week and I'm already ready it

happened days early.

You're ready, ready and rare in to go. Okay, well

here we go.

All right, So would you rather I'll go the first one.

Would you rather rock an ugly Christmas sweater or wear

a company matching holiday pajamas for your family Christmas gathering?

Family Christmas gathering? Is this extended family or.

Oh yeah, that's a great question.

So maybe maybe it'll apply to your traditional family gathering.

So if you if you always get together with your

extended apply it to that.

Well, then I would rock an ugly Christmas sweater because.

That's what you do, you get together with your extended family.

Yeah, yeah, so I would rather do the pajamas.

Yeah, I would imagine, Well, because it's because you're not

doing the extended family. You're doing the no no.

No, no, no, we go home? You'd rather do we

do like sixty people? Okay, it's huge, but yeah, I

would not rather do pajamas.

Okay. Would you rather build a snowman or have a

snowball fight?

Do you want to build a Hey?

I was in that village? Were the village that that

frozen was modeled after?

Yeah?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's Hallstat in Austria.

No, way.

Yeah, there's a little town square that's kind of off kilter,

it's not a square, you know, off kilter, and there's

a little statue in the middle and all this kind

of stuff and yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, so everybody

wanted to get a picture. Yeah, and all the girls

were singing, do you want to be a snowman?

Of course they were, of course they were, yeah, and

probably let it go and yep, yeah, okay.

So would you rather build a snowman or have a

snowball fight?

That really depends on the company, right, yeah, but I'm

going to go for snowman.

Wow.

And here's the reason why, because it's it's been a

while since I've had a legitimate snowball fight. And obviously

when you're you know, Grandpa age, you know, it's what

you know, what's more.

You know, snowmatter sweet.

You take the pictures, right, the memories, the whole thing,

snowball fight. You're like, Okay, I gotta, I gotta, I

gotta take my advil.

Yep, right, I got a gear up for this.

So I would choose aball snowball fight ten times to

one overbuilding a snowman. So really, yeah, so my middle son, David,

is that the artistry in me? Like I like I

probably to crafting, Yeah, crafting, and I'm not a crafter,

but I do like the violence of a snowball fight.

So my middle son, David, he's an adult, grown up now,

but he was maybe a tween eleven, twelve, thirteen years

old somewhere in there, and he was kind of sick.

He isn't feeling well. Yeah, and we were walking into

a restaurant. I'm trying to cheer him up, and he's

all sad, he's not feeling great. And so I just

made a slushy snowball and say hey David and through it,

just expecting to dodge. He didn't dutch all right in

the face. I hit it hurt. It wasn't a hard snowball,

but yeah, yeah, still it just makes everything worse.

Last snow man.

Oh wow, you got to show it?

Oh can you can you see that?

Yes?

For those of you who are how wonderful on TV?

Can you put Zach go to just me, go to

the camera where it's just me? Can you do that

right there?

Yeah?

Right, so if you're watching there it is, look how

big it istory?

Good job, Chris yeah, it's easily seven feet tall.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, and that was that was awesome. Yeah, good memories.

It's fabulous.

Yeah.

Well, hitting your kid in the face with the snowball.

Is also memories, right, I'm sure.

Okay, would you rather go I'm sorry, I'm skipping ahead.

Would you rather go Christmas carolling or half people Christmas

carol at your house for an extended period?

For an extended period?

That's the vague, that's the thing extended. Well, so, so

you know more than the first verse, the field extended.

There's only one thing worse than no Christmas carollers. You know,

let's bad Christmas care.

That's true. That's right, that's true.

So Christmas kalers are wonderful if they're awesome.

Really okay, have you ever had Christmas.

Kalers at your house? Sure, when you were a kid,

but nobody Christmas carols anymore?

No?

Yeah, that's so sad, isn't it? What happened?

Some things just need to move on, stay off my lawn. Yeah,

I like Christmas carollers, like at Greenfield Village or something,

you know, old time village.

Did you just say some things have to move on? Yeah? Yeah,

it's just you know what is wrong with what's.

Christmas carolers meant something? When you know you didn't have

all the records and now you've got iTunes, you could

just play like good music in your house.

That's why you think Christmas Carolyn came about because limited

access to music?

Yeah? Yeah, I think so.

Oh my goodness, how about this? How about holiday cheer?

How about like goodwill toward man?

Well, I like holidays?

How about how about all the goodness that? By the way,

I just talked about this. When I as a kid,

I remember counting the number of houses that didn't have

lights as opposed to every ten houses that are dark.

You have one house that's litten nowtches. Yes, yeah, and

so dude, that has nothing to do with access to lighting.

Okay, I'm not saying it's okay.

You want to know what make Christmas this week?

That it's that just a lack of fondness for Christmas Caroling.

I like Christmas Carol, so don't get me wrong. I

like Christmas Carols. Just have somebody show up on my

porch and sing it me for twenty minutes is weird? Anyways,

Let's keep going.

Okay, Okay, number number four. Would you rather drink hot

cocoa or drink egg noo cocoa?

Yeah, there's no doubt.

Would you rather have a white Christmas or get away

and enjoy a tropical Christmas?

Oh you're gonna have to go tropical.

Here's the reason why, because it's not the tropical that

I like over the white. I like the white better,

but it is the getaway part. It says would you

rather get away and enjoy? So that implies like.

I'd rather get away the day after Christmas? Oh, and

just have Christmas at home. So you're definitely choosing Christmas.

Dream. Yeah, I like to get away part. I see,

I did it one year.

Actually, I actually traveled on Christmas Day and went down

to Florida last year and we did the Christmas with

the Cranks. I mentioned it I think before, and uh,

it was wonderful.

So if you did that, would you take your kids

with you?

Oh?

Yeah, well that's perfect because this passage we're about to

read talks about directing your children on the right path.

Nice and by the way, that wasn't even cheesy.

I should have tried that was maybe maybe So we

should do is try try for some quality on this show.

Maybe maybe hey, imagine that new concept.

Yeah, okay, well, hey, we are in Proverbs chapter twenty two.

We're continuing on with the wisdom of Solomon. One of

the reasons is Proverbs is my favorite book. And the

other reason is because death why And one of the

other reason is because desire just keeps assigning Proverbs to us.

That's the main reason why. It's just that you don't

mind it, because it's it.

I love it.

You're like, I love it.

Yea. So we're going to read the first twenty nine

verses in Proverbs chapter twenty two, which is there's more

than twenty nine verses. No, we're just gonna read the

first twenty nine and the only there's only twenty nine verses. Yes,

So here you go. It says, choose a good reputation

over great riches. Being held in high esteem is better

than silver or gold. The rich and poor have this

in common. The Lord made them both. A prudent person

foresees danger and takes precautions. The simple goes blindly on

and suffers the consequences. True humility and fear of the

Lord lead to riches, honor, and long life. Corrupt people

walk a thorny, treacherous road. Whoever values life will avoid it.

Direct your children onto the right path, and when they

are older, they'll not leave it. There you go seek, yeah, there.

It is just as the rich rule the poor, so

the borrower is servant to the lender. Those who plant

injustice will harvest disaster, and their reign of terror will

come to an end. Blessed are those who are generous,

because they feed the poor. Throw out the mocker, and

fighting goes too. Corals and insults will disappear. Whoever loves

a pure heart and gracious speech will have the King

as a friend. The Lord preserves those whose knowledge are

with knowledge, but he ruins the plans of the treacherous.

The lazy person claims there's a lion out there. If

I go outside, I might be killed. The mouth of

an immoral woman is a dangerous trap. Those who make

the Lord angry will fall into it. A youngster's heart

is filled with foolishness, but physical de discipline will drive

it far away. A person who gets ahead by oppressing

the poor or by showering gifts on the rich, will

end in poverty. Listen to the words of the wise,

apply your heart to my instruction, for it is good

to keep these sayings in your heart and always ready

on your lips. I am teaching you today, Yes you,

so you will trust in the Lord. I've written thirty

sayings for you, filled with advice and knowledge. In this

way you may know the truth and take an accurate

report of those who sent you. Don't rob the poor

just because you can, or exploit the needy in court,

for the Lord is their defender. He will ruin anyone

who ruins them. Don't befriend angry people or associate with

hot tempered people, or you will learn to be like

them and endanger your soul. Don't agree to guarantee another

person's debt or put up security for someone else. If

you can't pay it, even your bed will be snatched

from under you. Don't cheat your neighbor by moving the

ancient boundary markers set up by previous generations. Do you

see any truly competent workers. They will serve kings rather

than working for ordinary people. Well, there you.

Go, there you go, and there's a lot of random,

seemingly I mean, there's there's yeah there short of I

guess the biggest thing would be the rich over reputation, right, would.

You say that's the strongest them in the reputation? Yeah,

I mean he talks about uh yeah.

The first couple of verses there, well.

Yeah, and then also even later on here he talks

about even the long life.

You know, isn't it interesting? How have you ever seen

the old Westerns?

Yes, where it seems like everybody who you know is

corrupt or does bad business or is shady. They never

make it past thirty years old, right, they just don't

because they're constantly in conflict.

And back then, you know, people just used to slay

each other. Yeah, yeah, right, And I would imagine that

back here, say slay man slaughter, and so I would

imagine I would imagine that.

Back then that was really probably true. Like if you

were known to be a person who was getting riches

by what by corruptible ways?

Yes, I would.

I would guess that there would be a reputation like, oh,

that guy's not going to live long. That guy's not

gonna live past his thirties, right, because he's gonna one

day he's going to come across another guy who's going

to double cross, and then his life's going to end

in the streets and guess what, it's going to be justified,

and people are going to witness it and just let

it happen because that's the way.

That things happen back then.

Well, the you know, people hustling on the street. It's

not surprising when you hear of gang warfare, gang fighting, right,

somebody trying to take over territory, shooting and killing over crime.

If you're around if you're doing crime, you're going to

be around criminals. That's that's what happens, right, right, And

bad guys do bad things, and I don't know if

you heard right, flash right, and that's what happens. So yeah,

that's a part of that I think is if you're

slashing and killing, you're probably around the kind of person

who's slashing and killing to get ahead. And so it's

going to come back to you too.

Yeah.

And so so he talks about riches. He says, uh,

you know, the humility and the fear of the lord

lead to riches, honor, and a long life. I think

that's what the nod is too, I really do. And

then also a good reputation has chosen.

Over riches, right, and and the poor and the rich

have both this in common. The Lord made them both.

And so what God is trying to say is he's

you know, he's trying to say, choose life over over wealth. Yeah, right,

choose true life. And here's another thing too, choose a

good life, a good life.

And when I say good life, not the good life,

but choose to live a good life.

The life.

Yeah, that's right.

Yeah, and and uh, and also think about this as well,

So what's it all for? You know, think about like

the writer. Obviously at Solomon, right, so he's has tremendous wisdom.

But when I always think of like, if you're the

wisest man who ever lives, then then that means the

things that you write are as wise, and in this case,

wiser than somebody who's on their deathbed. Somebody's on their deathbed.

Is the person who's got all figured out? Right, the

other person who says, now I know it's really important

in life. All the things I used to pursue those

are all vanity, you know, you know, it's a waste

of time. Now I've really got to figure it out.

And that's really what Solomon is writing. He's writing this

advice and he's saying, hey, listen, when you look at

your life. Here's the perspective you need to have overall.

And we go through different seasons. Remember when we were

first married and we not we, not you and me.

But when we married our spouses, when we married our

spouse respective spouses.

Yes, and remember like we could afford to buy much right, right,

And that's the way that most you know newly weds are.

I can't remember Bonnie and I were so that this

is this is shocking. Bonnie and I got married. We

were twenty one. Yeah, I was going to college, so

most of my money was going to pay for college,

and we paid rent. We had a car that we

didn't have to pay for, but we were paying for insurance. Uh.

And we didn't have enough money for gas for the

whole week, right, So we found a place where we

could sell plasma. Yes, I did that, and we'd sell

our blood. I did that in college, and that would

give us enough money. So we'd sell our blood and

that would give us enough money to fill our gas

tank and then we would have enough money left over

for a pizza and a VHS movie. We could run

a movie and that would be date night. So we

go sell our blood. We always either every Friday, and

we would be able to get a five dollar pizza

in a movie and yeah, that was science. And that

gave us enough gas for the week to go to work.

Yeah, so.

That's poor, by the way, that's that's you're struggling at

that point when you're selling your blood.

Yes, right, So when we when we left Youngstown, Ohio,

we went to Baptist Broble Colleges, were went to college

and uh, and it was myself, my best friend Jeff Miller,

and our other best friend, Norm who's since then passed away.

It was sort of us who were the three Musketeers

and Norman and.

I got a real job, okay, but Jeff Miller, so

plaza plus that's all he did, right and so.

And so literally they get.

Like sixty bucks, forty bucks sixty yes, right, and he.

Got to the point. And by the way, Jeff listens

to the Bible, guys.

Yeah, so my best job, Jeff.

My best my best buddy's listening right now. And so

Jeff listen, so your two best jeffs Yeah, that's right,

my best Jeff well Miller.

Sorry, Jones gave Jones, right, Jonesy.

Miller gave so much plasma that he had permanent marks of.

Oh, I do too, I do too. I make fine

about that. Sometimes. I'm probably one of the one of

the few pastors that have tracks on his arms. But

I've never taken Druss right.

Right, So here's what happened. This is the fun I'm

leading into this.

So we would all get together at noon and we

would all eat in the cafeteria, all of us, and

then Norman I would head to work, right, and then

and then Jeff would head to the plasma place and

we'd say, okay, Jeff, you had no work, work Jeff, and.

He just kicked back on the couch, drink orange juice.

Yes, that's what he would do.

And he did that for gas money, and that was it.

So but Norman I had real jobs. I love you, buddy,

I love you, Jeff.

That's awesome.

But yeah, that was funny.

Yeah. So there's there's another theme that keeps coming up.

This is I think the third or fourth time where

he says, don't guarantee another person's debt. Yeah, how often

does he bring this up? I mean, because you remember

most of these he's talking to his son, right, isn't

that what he says? He's always talking to like, Hey,

listen to me, Listen to the words of the wise,

Listen my son. Right, So you kind of have a

sense that a lot of the proverbs he's writing for

his family, that that's what he's right, He's trying to

pass it on to the next thing, right, pass on

his wisdom. And so this is like the fourth time

he's like, don't be a co signer. And then later

on he goes, don't be a co signer, and then

he says, don't be a co signer. And then here

at the very end it says, if you can't pay it,

even your bed will be snatched from one to you.

He always has like this little thing that goes, if

you do this is what might happen. Right, You're gonna

even lose your bed. They're gonna take your bed from you.

Hey, will you do me a favorite? Will you shay

hi to my cousin Denay Adams, Hi, Denay Adams. Yeah.

So the last time I told this story about my

grandpa co signing that for that one guy, she emailed

me and she said, listening to the Bible guys this morning,

And I never knew the story about Grandpa co signing

for that car and then paying it off for the

guy's window or widow. I love all those little extra

nuggets that you throw in. It gives me pieces of

my family history that I never knew. I listen every day.

Keep up the good one.

That's so nice.

Yeah. And she lives in another state and she listens

every every day.

Yeah. Now, so your grandfather co signed in that situation,

he had the resources that if it went sideways, he

could cover it.

Yes.

So there are a lot of places in the Bible,

in the Book of Proverbs that will say when you

loan something, don't just loan it, just give it right

right in your heart right. So if they can pay

it back, that's fine. If they can't pay it back,

that's fine too. And so that's what happened is your

grandfather had a lot of margin, and so he was

able to co sign on a car knowing that, hey,

if they fall apart, I can just pay it. And

that's what he did for that widow, is he just

paid even though because he had the margin. What happens

is a lot of times people who are personally struggling

have compassion on somebody else who's struggling, and then they go, well,

you know, I've got a five, I have a six

forty credit score. I'll go ahead and sign right, And

then they sign and then the other person slips into catastrophe,

and then it causes catastrophe for both families rather than

just just the one right. And so a lot of

times when you're struggling, you have a lot of compassion

for the other people who are struggling. But what Solomon

is saying is don't don't, you know, drill a hole

in your own boat just because somebody else's boat is sinking, right, right,

That's what that's literally what he's warning about all the time.

Don't do it. And then I wanted to highlight one

other one is direct your children under the right path

and when they're older, you know they'll not leave it.

We talk a lot about parenting and those kinds of things.

I mean, we're both parents, and this is not a

promise that, hey, if you teach your kids right thing,

they'll never do the wrong thing. But big picture is,

you don't go You don't fall very far from the tree,

do you. The apple doesn't fall very far from the tree.

You raise up your kids in the right way, and

they will know the right thing to do is what

the Bible is talking about there. And I just think

that there's something about that, because there seems to be

a big push in our culture today, don't you know,

try to push your kids towards following Christ. Just let

them choose on their own, don't whatever. And I would

say it's exactly the opposite. You train them in the

way they should go. That's what it says, train your

children on the right path. King James says, train up

your child and the way he should go, and when

he's old he won't depart from it. There's a right

way and a wrong way. And if you found the

right way, you should lead your children in the right way,

right and not just hope they also find it.

Yeah, and didn't we just did.

We just talk We had a conversation just recently about

the formative years, uh, and how and how when a

child is indoctrinated with the right things during their formative

years that it actually sticks with them long into their

adult life, right, right, And and so yeah, it is

a it is great advice way beyond just to just

to you know, seemingly surfaced nugget piece of advice.

This is this is.

In depth well thought out rules for life kind of things,

which is why I said it's like deathbed kind of

advice where it's like, you know, he's you know, for instance,

he says the the the borrower is servant to the lender.

Yeah.

Sometimes people don't learn that until their fifties, and then

and then they go, oh, yeah, I've I've.

Given most of my funds away to MasterCard, right yeah,

or I've given most of my funds a way to

you know, and and and it's just it just ends up,

you know.

Yeah, where's that verse.

The top of page six fifty nine, verse uver seven

oh seven.

Yeah, just as Richard, so the bower is serving to

the lenders. So many people are enslaved, they're trapped. I

know so many good people that are in their hearts generous,

but they financed their couch and their car and their

TV and their school and their clothes, and they finance

restaurant meals and they find finance all the same thing saying,

you know, you're paying all this interest and you know

you're just spending on thousand dollars a month in interest,

and you feel trapped right in there because you're a

slave to now MasterCard you're a slave to Visa, you're

a slave to American Express or whatever. You're a slave

to something you consumed before. Right, And so he says,

you know, if you don't want to be enslaved, don't

get in debt. That's really the thing. It's hard. That's

a hard, hard thing to learn.

Yeah, well it's and it's a hard My wife and

I learned it. Yeah.

I was gonna say it's a hard thing to do too, right,

because when you're young, it's hard.

Hence giving plasma exactly. We weren't carrying any debt back then.

We didn't have any debt back then. But yeah, we

were just telling.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, and then the debt came later. Yes,

all right, well, hey, that looks like it's our time.

There was a lot of great nuggets in there that

we didn't get time to get to.

But we'll continue in

Proverbs, so hopefully we'll see tomorrow on the bibble, guys,