“When you sit to dine with a ruler, note well what is before you, and put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony. Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive” (23:1-3). If you happen to breathe the same air as the rich and famous people, be careful that it does not intoxicate you. Be careful that you don’t covet their riches or their fame. For that envy will poison your heart. Wealth and fame never made anyone happy or content. An Arabic proverb says: “The richest man is not the one who has the most but the one who needs the least.” There is nothing wrong with wealth or fame. God gives these to some and not to others. Note that the proverb does not say that the ruler is deceptive. Rather it says, “that food is deceptive”. When we covet what others have, we bring the misery of discontent upon ourselves. It might even become an obsession that leads us entirely stray. The only person you must be is the person that you are. If you grasp for an identity and a life that you were not made for then that identity and life will destroy you (if you happen to be unfortunate enough to attain what you covet). If riches and fame are part of God’s plan for a person, then he will equip that person to steward those things well. If riches and fame are gained by a person who has no regard for God, then don’t covet their life because it is not a happy one. Be who you are.
Reflect on whether you have coveted the lives of others.
Read Proverbs 23:1-11
