“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11)
Growing Dominion, Part 81
“Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase” (Prov. 13:11).
The contrast here is between wealth gained by labor, and wealth gained by vanity. One of the most marked distinctives of wealth gained by labor is that it is gained slowly, deliberately, and over the years. Wealth gained by vanity is wealth gained the other way—as some kind of windfall. What will happen with wealth gained that way? It shall “be diminished.” This is the scriptural basis for saying “easy come, easy go.” There is probably a great study somewhere of “lottery winners, five years later.”
But still, this is how we want to gain wealth—all of a sudden. Who would respond to a full-page ad in a Sunday supplement newspaper that read “God’s Way to Wealth!” Well, actually people would respond to that. The problem would start in the text, provided it really was about God’s way to wealth. The text would read something like, “Work really hard for fifty years. Tithe. Delay gratification. Pay as you go.” No, we want to hear about how somebody made millions in real estate in only fifteen minutes a day. Now there’s a deal. But Scripture takes a dim view of the deal. Wealth gotten by vanity shall diminish.