Better a Dry Crust with Peace and Quiet

Proverbs 17:1 (NIV) – Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife.

I often heard people on the lower economic end of the spectrum quote this proverb. In the past, I saw it as a massive cope. Choosing to despise what you don’t have, or believe you cannot have, is a strategy many people have successfully used to endure life past their feelings of disappointment.

“Oh thank God I’m not married! I like getting sleep, anyway!”

“I’m sick?! Well at least I don’t have to go to work today.”

If it works, it works.

Where the Strife Comes From

However, let’s think about it from a practical perspective. Imagine you are rich and could afford the best food in abundance at every meal. It’s been proven that stress affects [link to book: Good Energy] glucose levels and craters metabolic function even in people who have excellent diet habits. That stress can come from: 

• Doing business with untrustworthy people
• Hangers-on who are trying to guilt you into giving them the money (using arguments that would not convince them if your circumstances were reversed)
• Marrying a finish-line girl (or guy) who is in love with your lifestyle but sees you and your needs as optional at best, and annoyances at worst
• Children fighting over the inheritance
• No time for your spiritual health
• The stress of overwork and its impact on your spouse (in an honest effort to get wealth)
• High-maintenance clients that call you all hours of the day and have no respect for boundaries

Get Rich Slowly, as Fast as You Can, the Right Way

The only solution is to grow your wealth in a specific way. A way that: 

• Never makes you too busy to put God first
• That enables you to establish good boundaries with the people around you
• That rejects doing business (or living with) untrustworthy people.
• That allows you to be generous in a budgeted and sustainable way 
• That allows you to turn off from work so you can learn, play, rest, and challenge yourself — enjoying the variety of God’s gift of life. This especially includes Sabbath rest. 
• That uses your wealth to grow the human, intellectual, and spiritual capital of your family members so they can not only be good inheritors, but high-integrity wealth creators as well.

Often this means getting rich more slowly. Other times it means spending less on things and more on experiences and learning. 

I firmly believe biblical principles tend towards prosperity. Sometimes this trend can be accelerated through wise decision-making or consistent hard work. Usually, however, it can take years or decades (or centuries) to play out. Because these principles tend towards prosperity, we don’t need to hold onto the prosperity itself too hard. At least, not at the expense of our character, reputation, destiny, or family relationships.

God is not asking us to choose between a life of stress-free poverty or a chaos-attracting largesse. He wants us to know how to be content in any situation and avoid unnecessary pain.

Schedule a call with me if you want me to help you manage your business income and expenses. Better a dry crust with peace and quiet may be true, but with wisdom and diligence you can also have feasting.