Verse of the Day - Proverbs 15:6

The house of the righteous contains great treasure, but the income of the wicked brings them trouble. ~ Proverbs 15:6 (NIV)

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What's in your house -- treasure, or trouble?

It really doesn't matter if you have money, or don't. Because treasure can be found in the poorest of households. And trouble can be found in the richest.

One of my favorite new TV shows is "Royal Pains", where an ER doctor from Brooklyn, who got fired for "allowing" a rich hospital trustee to die while saving a "commoner" who was dying, drives up to the Hamptons with his wily brother for a party, and ends up saving a girl's life. This leads to his new-found career as a "concierge doctor", a paid physician to the rich. It becomes clear in the first episode that wealth is not always a 'walk in the park'. With money comes a whole host of temptations to abuse the body, neglect the family, and seek solace from all the wrong sources. And no matter how many art collections and tennis courts they have, it cannot correct or make up for the train wreck of a self-led life.

That is trouble.

Yet, on the other hand, is a film I watched yesterday, called, "Madea's Family Reunion". At this black family's reunion, set at the homestead of their slave ancestors, Cicely Tyson gives an impassioned speech to the family after their 96-year old matriarch walked the property and saw foolishness in those who had come -- young men gambling and arguing, and young women treating and using their bodies as sexual attractions. She called them to remember their ancestral heart roots which were grounded in God -- love, compassion, forgiveness, tenderness, godliness. And to start acting on those.

That is treasure.

God is the source of treasure in ones heart and in ones home. Wickedness is the source of trouble. When we trust in God and give ourselves to Him, desiring to do His will, we gain treasure. Maybe not the kind that can be seen in display cases or gated communities, but the kind that lasts -- spiritual treasure -- a heart that loves God and loves others, which spawns a myriad of godly treasures down through the generations.

I pray that you can count the true treasures in your life that come from walking with God and living for Him.

Love,
Joelene