Proverbs 28.6
“Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity than a rich man who is crooked in his ways.”
What is real success? This proverb declares that success is living a life of integrity regardless of your financial status and that failure is living a “crooked” life regardless of your financial status.
Integrity is of preeminent value in the kingdom of God. Integrity makes a person wealthy irrespective of financial status. God’s way of valuing things and people is far different than that of the world.
The word “crooked” in Hebrew means being “twisted.” The word came to mean the way that people twist their ways and choices contrary to what God commands and desires. The warning here is that people of wealth and power are often tempted to think they are beyond the law because of the influence their money and position buys them in this world.
The poor man walks differently because he walks in his integrity. The word “walk” is the Hebrew word halak, which means to come and go, or to walk about. It speaks of the pathways of one’s life, and came to mean the lifestyle that one chooses. The poor person in this proverb is a wise person who has chosen to live their life with integrity, which means alignment with God’s principles and standards.
There is a “walk” … a way of life … to which the Lord calls you. It is the life for which He created you and redeemed you. Beware the twisted life of the world. Pursue the life of integrity to which the Lord calls you.
This is precisely the message in Ephesians 4.1-3: “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
Tomorrow we will look more closely at Ephesians 4.1.
