It is good to know how people become wealthy but the other side of the coin is just as important because if you know how people become poor you could avoid that behavior and what follows.
"Do not join with those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves with meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags." Proverbs 23:20-21.
DO NOT JOIN
People are a powerful influence. We must beware of those who we spend a lot of time with, and avoid close friendships with people who make choices based upon desire or appetite.
Friends do much to give us success or bring us failure because we slowly adapt their lifestyles. Consider the lifestyle of your associates.
DRINK TOO MUCH
The problem seems to be when a person does not have self-control or chooses to yield to bad choices. This person lets desire rule them and not best choices.
GORGE
To gorge is to consume more than you need or someone who eats everything available. This person spends every cent he has: he doesn't know when to stop.
MEAT
In the ancient rural societies, meat was so valuable that it was reserved for celebrations and festivals. It was not consumed daily as in the modern west. The modern equivalent would be eating out often.
DROWSINESS
If you eat and drink too much you won't want to go to work the next morning. If every Monday you were hung over that represents 20% of your work week. That one day each week your performance is suffering can result in a lack of promotion, reduced earnings, and failure to advance in your career.
Food is meant to sustain us and maintain our health; it is not the point of life. When we make food, drink, luxuries and comfort the point in life we have misdirected our thinking.
POVERTY
Joining with people who surrender to their appetites, or people with no self-control, and consume all they have leads you to slip into their way of non-thinking. You will stop making choices but allow an out of control appetite decide for you.
CHOOSE
We all need food but do we need the second helping, or dessert, or the second glass of wine? Is it better to be refreshed in the morning and give your top performance or slow and sluggish from hangover and overeating? It is the failure to make these and similar choices that lead to poverty.
"Do not join with those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves with meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags." Proverbs 23:20-21.
DO NOT JOIN
People are a powerful influence. We must beware of those who we spend a lot of time with, and avoid close friendships with people who make choices based upon desire or appetite.
Friends do much to give us success or bring us failure because we slowly adapt their lifestyles. Consider the lifestyle of your associates.
DRINK TOO MUCH
The problem seems to be when a person does not have self-control or chooses to yield to bad choices. This person lets desire rule them and not best choices.
GORGE
To gorge is to consume more than you need or someone who eats everything available. This person spends every cent he has: he doesn't know when to stop.
MEAT
In the ancient rural societies, meat was so valuable that it was reserved for celebrations and festivals. It was not consumed daily as in the modern west. The modern equivalent would be eating out often.
DROWSINESS
If you eat and drink too much you won't want to go to work the next morning. If every Monday you were hung over that represents 20% of your work week. That one day each week your performance is suffering can result in a lack of promotion, reduced earnings, and failure to advance in your career.
Food is meant to sustain us and maintain our health; it is not the point of life. When we make food, drink, luxuries and comfort the point in life we have misdirected our thinking.
POVERTY
Joining with people who surrender to their appetites, or people with no self-control, and consume all they have leads you to slip into their way of non-thinking. You will stop making choices but allow an out of control appetite decide for you.
CHOOSE
We all need food but do we need the second helping, or dessert, or the second glass of wine? Is it better to be refreshed in the morning and give your top performance or slow and sluggish from hangover and overeating? It is the failure to make these and similar choices that lead to poverty.
