The Fruit of the Righteous

Proverbs 11 is a wonderful chapter on what a righteous life can look like. The chapter ends with this proverb which wraps it all up:

Proverbs 11:30 (ESV) The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and whoever captures souls is wise.

What is a righteous person? Someone who brings life to the dead places of this world and brings salvation to those who are lost. How do they do it? Read back in the chapter to see. Most of the chapter speaks to how we handle money. 

Things like honesty in measurements:
Proverbs 11:1 (ESV) A false balance is an abomination to the LORD, but a just weight is his delight.

We may think this is a small issue but the Lord calls it an abomination. When scales measured everything in an economy, adjuting your scale or fixing it in your favor was a travesty to the Lord. Why? Because that person you were doing business with matters to Him as well. 

Or consider the empty promise of wealth without character.
Proverbs 11:4 (ESV) Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.

So often we are taught that more money will mean more life. But money cannot and will never be able to secure our eternal future. Our souls need more than money. Our lives are worth more than financial gain. Do not seek to pad your pockets while ignoring your spiritual life. 

Then the Proverbs point out the necessity in discernment concerning those you may do business with. 
Proverbs 11:15 (ESV) Whoever puts up security for a stranger will surely suffer harm, but he who hates striking hands in pledge is secure.

In other words, do not simply enter into financial commitments where you have not done your due diligence. This is an enormous mistake many people make in plans to get "rich quick" or to "strike while the iron's hot" in a financial proposition front-loaded with promise and back-filled with problems.

I especially like verse 24:
Proverbs 11:24 (ESV) One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.

This verse means so much to me financially because I have seen it in my own life. The counterintuitive nature of giving. When we give, we do not lose, we grow richer because we are acting like God in our giving and He always watched out for His own. 

And beyond giving, doing honest business is commended:
Proverbs 11:26 (ESV) The people curse him who holds back grain, but a blessing is on the head of him who sells it.

In other words, do not live to keep. Live as a river through which God's blessings may flow and not a reservoir into which God's blessings simply are stowed. You can't take it with you, you WILL leave it all behind... so get used to let it go today and God's blessing will be realized tomorrow. 

The fruit of the righteous is a life that blesses others with the benefits God gives. They know God never lacks and so they never lack to give. And in the end, history remembers well those who let this kind of thinking define them. 

Hopefully, we don't cancel them.

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