Keeping Up Appearances

One person pretends to be rich but has nothing.
   Another pretends to be poor but has great wealth.
                                                             Proverbs 13:7  GW

When I read that verse a story that I had read by noted Texas author J. Frank Dobie came to mind.  Dobie wrote of a personal experience long years ago when he was visiting a Texas town where a very wealthy rancher lived.  He met the rancher in town and noted his shabby appearance.  He had a pair of very worn pants on that had a tear in them.  The rancher had taken a mesquite torn and used it to close the tear like you might use a pin.  It was something of a poor man's solution on this very wealthy man's clothes.  Dobie asked the rancher why he didn't go buy some new pants.  The rancher's reply was that everyone in this town knew he had money, he did not need to up on any show for anyone.

Time passed and Dobie made a trip to Chicago and near the stock yards there he encountered the same rancher.  To Dobie's amazement he had on the same torn pants with the mesquite thorn patch.  Dobie asked him why in the world would he wear these pants on a business trip to Chicago?   The rancher's reply was that he did not want anyone here to think that he had money.

Though eccentric, there is some wisdom to the old rancher's logic.  How much are we influenced by the "must haves" of our day.  How did even the term "must have" become a part of our vernacular?  We live in a world where we are bombarded with advertising and social pressures to look a certain way, buy certain things and keep up appearances.  None of those things change the person we are inside. How often do we "upgrade" just to have the latest things?  How much money do we spend and how much debt do we incur for outer things that make no difference to who we are becoming?  How much do you and I "pretend." We need a wisdom from God to deal with wealth and to deal with the pressures of this world.  The greater reality is there is a wisdom from God that we "must have."  Thankfully we have a God who gives.  We will talk more on that Sunday.

For the journey....

Tim