“A man is praised for his insight, but a twisted mind is despised. Better to be disregarded, yet have a servant, than to act important but have no food. The righteous cares about his animal’s health, but even the merciful acts of the wicked are cruel. The one who works his land will have plenty of food, but whoever chases fantasies lacks sense. The wicked desire what evil people have caught, but the root of the righteous is productive. By rebellious speech an evil person is trapped, but a righteous person escapes from trouble. A person will be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth, and the work of a person’s hands will reward him.” (Proverbs 12:8-14 CSB – Read the chapter)
The American Dream takes a few different forms, but most of them envision someone working hard and achieving wealth and success by that hard work. There are also versions that celebrate a person’s doing this all on their own with a pioneering spirit. This is the whole pulling-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps thing. As followers of Jesus, while we cannot get on board with the idea that we don’t need a community to be successful, the idea that we should work hard and experience some version of success by our hard work is something behind which we can throw our full support. The proverbs point to that more than once, including here in this next batch. Let’s take a look.
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