Sunday, July 26, 2015

Psalm 37:16


Copyright  2015 J. Neely
Psalm 37:16

16 A little [m@`at] that a righteous man [tsaddiyq] hath is better [towb] than the riches [hamown] of many [rab] wicked [rasha`].   KJV-Interlinear

16 Better is the little that the righteous has than the abundance of many wicked.   ESV

The righteous person, using the complete definition of righteous, is the spiritually mature person, or one who has advanced in their spiritual life by means of learning Bible doctrine, using doctrine, and all while living in fellowship, which is the environment of the spiritual life.

But too, the word for righteous can be applied to salvation, by distinguishing a saved person from an unsaved person.

And, it can also be applied to believers in Christ by distinguishing a productive or advancing Christian from one who is not advancing in their spiritual life.

Wickedness typically describes anyone who lives outside of the spiritual realm.

It can be applied to an unbeliever, for by definition, all unbelievers are wicked as they have no spiritual life or resources.

It can be used to describe a believer who lives a pattern of life out of fellowship.  Fellowship is the environment of the spiritual life.  So, living out of fellowship means living outside of the spiritual environment.

Now for our verse.

In this world, possessions are usually defined in terms of value or wealth or what you can see, touch, smell, and so forth, or more appropriately, things that you have or possess.

And the things of this world are generally valued more than the things of the spiritual realm, which you cannot see or measure.

So, the righteous have faith or doctrine, and the wicked value things.

But things, last only as long as your life here in this world.  While doctrine, or faith, lasts forever.

Suppose you are a billionaire and you live for 100 years, then you die.

As a billionaire you will live pretty good in this world.  No argument there.  But when you die, the tables change.  Your worth is measured in terms of your spiritual status.  If you have not believed in Christ, then you face all of eternity in the Lake of Fire.  And 100 years now, is nothing when compared to eternity.  So that would not be a good trade to have the good life now and then torments forever.

The same is similar for believers who lack spiritual resources.  To emphasize possessions now, or to resist spiritual growth, over legitimate spiritual growth, means that you will die one day and then stand before the Lord.  Christ will look at you and give your evaluation based on your spiritual resources, production and so forth, which determines your eternal reward. If you have nothing, no spiritual growth that is, then your reward is little if at all.  You live in heaven, but with no reward.

And rewards in heaven are measured by their eternal lifespan, which, if you have nothing, then you will have nothing for a long time.  So that is a huge loss.  Infinity times something is big.  Infinity times nothing is zero no matter how you calculate it.

So, better to have your spiritual life now, and then huge reward and much more for all of eternity, than to have all of the wealth in this world now and nothing for all of eternity.

The wealth of the world is fixed and temporary.  The wealth of eternity is infinite and beyond measure.  Even billions or trillions now, are no comparison to infinity.

The best situation would of course be a billionaire now and a spiritually mature believer.  That gives you the best of now and eternity.

But, that is not going to happen for most of us.  So we are left with the only investment that is available to us, for a wonderful eternity, and that investment is by learning and utilizing doctrine and advancing to spiritual maturity, now, while we can.

Before you were born into this world, you did not have any say as to how your life would be. What you have now, is what you were dealt, as it were.

But, as to eternity, you have every opportunity now, to define a phenomenal life for yourself, if you get with a daily study, and learn, and grow up in your spiritual life.

By pursuing your daily studies, you have everything to gain.  By doing nothing, you have only yourself to blame for your loss.