Give me neither poverty nor riches.
—Proverbs 30:8
Agur prayed that he would have neither too many shekels, nor too few—afraid that if he had too many he might tune out God, and if he had too few he might steal (Prov. 30:8-9).
The Bible doesn’t condemn wealth, but it waves red flags to warn of its dangers …
A rich ruler, given the choice of giving up wealth or giving up Jesus, gave up Jesus (Lk. 18:18-23).
Judas, given the choice of the Savior or silver, chose silver (Matt. 26:14-16).
Ananias and Sapphira, given the choice of being honest or being deceitful, chose deceit (Acts 5:1-8).
Paul knew what it was like to have full pockets, and what it was like to have empty ones. He had learned to be content with either (see Phil. 4:11-12).
The contented person is never poor;
the discontented never rich.