Read Proverbs 23:1-19

“Do not overwork to be rich; Because of your own understanding, cease! Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; They fly away like an eagle toward heaven.” (Proverbs 23:4–5)

We must humbly bow before the throne of divine wisdom as we consider the holy words of King Solomon who himself experienced the heights of all worldly wealth. Yet the king did not speak highly of it, but rather gives us a solemn warning and a bleak certainty. It is this same king who said:

“Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, For my heart rejoiced in all my labor; And this was my reward from all my labor.” (Ecclesiastes 2:10)

Solomon had everything that a man could ask for. And yet even still he concluded —

“…Indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 2:11)

First then, to King Solomon’s warning, we are admonished to demote riches to their proper place of priority in our lives. A man that works to be rich will never find the end of it. It is a deceiving ladder that keeps climbing to insurmountable heights, that even if we lived as long as the ancients, like Seth or Noah, the top of it would still elude us.

Ah! — woe to that man who trades his life for money! How many men will stand before the judgment seat only to look back at their life and realize that they invested in the perishable rather than the imperishable. While this man piles up his riches like a miser his children are on the road to hell for lack of his intentions.

“For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26)

Solomon was right! Riches certainly make themselves wings and fly away! — whether that is in this life or when this life comes to an end. This is Solomon's bleak certainty.

Beloved church, let us take the wise king’s warning seriously as a man who himself could speak from experience. May we have the understanding to quit playing Satan’s game while there’s still time, and learn contentment in the things which we have (see 1 Timothy 6:6). Let our hearts be attentive to storing up treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroy (Matthew 6:20), and spare ourselves from the sharp pains of greedy sorrow.

“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” (1 Timothy 6:10)

Do we have the understanding to cease the pursuit and be content? Or are we so arrogant to think that the Scriptures speak ignorantly on this issue?

I pray that we would see that we are already rich in Christ! (see 1 Corinthians 4:8) And that we would break any chains of covetousness that tie us down and waste our precious time. If we are buying — let us buy the time!

“See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:15–16)

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