Showing posts with label Warning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Warning. Show all posts

Monday, January 19, 2015

Is Wealth Worth Your Inner Peace? Proverbs 17:1


We may want to have nice things and enjoy the good life. Is it worth it if it takes your inner peace away and troubles you with guilt?

"Better a dry crust eaten in peace than a house filled with feasting and conflict." Proverbs 17:1.

BETTER
When something is better is it preferred, it is superior, and it is the wiser choice.

DRY CRUST
The dry crust may be the morsel eaten by the pheasant or the homeless. This is like a dinner of salting crackers, or a meal made out the hardened ends of a loaf of bread. It is flavorless and unappetizing. The dryness makes it hard to swallow and hard to chew. This is not a meal you would look forward to.

PEACE
There is more than one kind of peace. The first that comes to mind is social peace where agreement and cooperation is in effect. In short there is no one fighting with you or shouting in the background.

There is a peace that can be more desirable and that is the peace of heart- free from worry. If you have guilt nagging at the back of your mind it can rob even the best meal of its blessing.

Sitting down to a humble meager meal with people who get along and with peace of heart could be a wonderful experience.

HOUSE FILLED
One would think a nice full house would be the better situation- but the house, or our lives, may be falsely filled with things that do not give pleasure. In our efforts to fill up our lives we may find ourselves in conflict with truer values and have conflict with our consciences.

CONSUMPTION
Both metaphors in the verse are about consumption. You consume a dry morsel or you may go to a feast to eat a sumptuous meal. We may be led by our desires to have the biggest, best, and most enjoyable possessions and experiences, but we must control our desires and recognize the dangers of possessions over inner peace.

THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH WEALTH
Having the nice house full of feasting is not wrong by itself; many people have wealth and have not sacrificed their inner peace. They have found balance and resolved not to cross the line of morals and compromise values.

A nice house and the good things in life are not wrong by themselves but if it cost you your peace it is not worth it.

____________________________

Thank you for visiting my blog. 
I hope these post help.
See my most helpful post in the sidebar.

 Adron

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Friday, August 8, 2014

Can you Escape Your Debt Without Paying? Proverbs 22:27

We sometimes think we will borrow some money for a venture or need. We may use a credit card or bank loan and hope to find some way to pay it back later when we really do not have the money now. Is there a way to make this kind of borrowing work?

"If you lack the means to pay even your very bed will be snatched away from you." Proverbs 22:27.

LACK
To lack is to not have something you need. You have to make sure you have the resources before you start out; this requires the effort to assess what you have and to determine what is needed.

MEANS
We normally associate means with money but it could be any resource such as time or other assets

VERY BED
This very close to home. In modern terms it is like saying you will lose the roof over your head. Borrowing could leave you homeless, then where will you keep the stuff you borrowed money for?

SNATCHED
To snatch is to take something suddenly without warning.  There is no way to resist the creditor who comes demanding his payment. When you don't see it coming then it is coming.

CONSEQUENCES
This Bible Verse is a warning not to get into debt to begin with and if you do then you must be sure you already have enough to get out of debt before you go there.

So be prepared- for the results are merciless, you could literally lose everything.

 (c)Adron Dozat

Sunday, March 2, 2014

What Is Essential In Your Plans For Success?

We have our plans and we want things to work out, but is there any guarantee of things working out?

"Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city and spend a year there and trade or get gain" Why you do not even know what will happen tomorrow, what is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills we will live and do this or that'.  As it is you are boasting in your arrogance all such boasting is evil." James 4:13-16  

VANITY
To make plans and act as if they are certain is foolish for there is no guarantee we will live through to see it. We should acknowledge that God is in control, instead of saying we are going to do this or that as if we were our own gods and masters over the events of the universe. It is wise to acknowledge that we are only here briefly at His pleasure and success or failure is His to give or deny.

THE LORD'S WILL
We must acknowledge God as sovereign, and consider if our plans are His will.

This does not mean to be fatalistic and give up. God created us in His image with a package of dreams, desires and ambitions- it is a sin to neglect the visions he has given us. He gives us these dreams to partner with us in fulfilling them; it is foolish to exclude such a partner.

DON'T BE DISCOURAGED.
God is a God of love and he wants to bless our lives.
     * Give your plans over to God as the executive officer or the senior partner.
     * Make prayer a daily part of the decision process.
     * Have an executive meeting with the Almighty at the beginning of each business day.
     * Ask for His plans to be fulfilled
     * And ask that those plans be for our blessing.

God says, "I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord," Plans to prosper, you and not harm you plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11.

There is nothing wrong with making plans- indeed the Bible often encourages us to be prudent; and there is nothing wrong with business, commerce, or trying to get ahead. What's foolish is to leave The Lord out of the process and risks losing His blessing, but to acknowledge God is to become positioned to receive a blessing.

To read James 4 in its entirety click here.

Sunday, February 16, 2014

What is Wrong With Wanting To Get Rich Quick?

We hear about programs that promise easy quick wealth, so what is wrong with joining?

"He who works his land will have abundant food, but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty." Proverbs 28:19

WORK YOUR LAND
Working the land is hard. The days are long, the bright sun is on you, you get sweaty, dirty, tired, and you might get splinters from tools or worse some accident in a tractor or combine, but it is necessary in order to bring the harvest.

TODAY'S LAND
Today few of us work on farms, instead, we have jobs. To work our jobs means to work hard too.  It means...
     * To show up on time.
     * To put in a full day.
     * Saying yes cheerfully to an unpleasant task.
     * Learning how to do our jobs better.
     * Being willing to stay late and work on days off.
     * Learning the business.
     * Learning jobs of other departments and being able to fill in.
     * Becoming the best worker they ever saw.

CHASES FANTASIES
To chase something is to go after it with haste and energy. When you chase something you keep your eye on it and ignore other things. Chasing something tires you out and you cannot sustain the chase over a long time.

The world is full of get rich fantasies. In the lottery people throw hundreds of dollars away each year or month to hit it big when investing those same monies would give more than the winnings ever would. The internet is full of "programs" to join and get rich, they promise so many dollars a day or a year, but they take your dollars and hours and pay little or nothing.

FILL OF POVERTY
These fantasies of get rich quick are often scams that require money up front or constant payments that slowly ebb away your resources and diminish your savings.

When you chase the fantasy of quick or easy wealth you take time and energy away from doing the things that will be sure to give a fuller life. That time could be used to acquire skills and knowledge that will get promotions at your current job. It's time you could use to get training or education that will make you a valuable candidate for a better job, but time wasted chasing fantasies will leave you without riches and you are no off.

YOUR FIELD
God has given each of us a field; for some, it may be a cash register at a store, a set of tools at an auto repair shop, or it may be a paint brush and ladder. Invest in who you are and develop what God has given you and you will never worry about where your next meal is coming from.

____________________________

Thank you for visiting my blog. 
I hope these post help.
See my most helpful post in the sidebar.

 Adron

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Sunday, February 2, 2014

The Danger Of Envying Other People's Wealth. Psalm 73:2-3

It is easy to find the person who seems to have lot more than you do. Their house looks bigger, their car is newer, their clothes are in fashion and they can eat in restaurants. While you ride the bus, eat leftovers and wear clothes that are frayed and patched up.

"But as for me, my feet almost slipped; I nearly lost my foothold. for I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked." Psalm 73:2-3.

WEALTH IS NEUTRAL
There is nothing wrong with wealth. It may be God's blessing or even God's testing.

Many good people are wealthy. They worked hard, made wise choices, exercised discipline, saved, and earned the reward of vision and sacrifice. There is nothing wrong with that, and they are worthy of admiration.

Some people may obtain prosperity through dishonest means. We should not admire them.

GOD BLESSES
In either case, we should not envy the wealth of others. If God has given a person this world's treasures we should be thankful that God has shown them such blessings. If we perceive a person rejects God's goodness and spurns righteousness for themselves we know their wealth is all there is for them and they face a poor eternity without grace or blessings.

ENVY
Envy is the child of covetousness. In the Ten Commandments, God said, "You shall not covet." (Deuteronomy 5:21). When we envy we sin and break one of God's commands.

Envy is the opposite of contentment, and it robs us of the possibility contentment, and it causes us to forget the blessings we already have.

MY FEET ALMOST SLIPPED, LOST FOOTHOLD
Imagine climbing a steep mountain, near the top and the soil beneath your feet crumble and you begin to slide down toward a cliff edge. In the pilgrimage of life, we lose a valuable reference standard of moral uprightness when we begin to envy because we start to compromise deeper values for cheaper ones. When we begin to envy we jeopardize the good we have built, we are possibly risking our lives.

RESOLVE
We begin a dangerous course when we envy other people's wealth. We start to focus on the things that are secondary in life and miss the primary blessings of relationships, character, and self.

Resolve to focus on the blessings you have and not on what other people have.

 (c)Adron Dozat

Thursday, December 19, 2013

How To Avoid Finical Disaster. Advice From The Bible, Proverbs 15:22

Opportunities come and they promise to pay off big but how do you know if it is a good choice?

"Plans fail for lack of counsel but with many advisers they succeed." Proverbs 15:22

LACK COUNSEL
Why do we lack counsel?
     * We want to be independent.
     * We are pressured to sign now.
     * We think we are smart.
     * We believe without checking out the facts.
     * We can't wait.
     * There is something we are trying to hide.

MANY ADVISERS
Many advisers give us many advantages. They give different perspectives that may present clearer insight than what we have on our own. We are forced to slow down and think more clearly. We experience dialogue that helps to articulate the good and the bad. We distance ourselves from those pressures that would control our decisions. We bring in the sum of other's experiences that broaden our understanding.

It is logical and makes a lot of sense. You can't know everything and everybody knows something different than you do so their knowledge fills in your gaps.

This pattern is followed by successful people; they form a team of other successful people and benefit from the pool of combined knowledge and experience.

WHO
We need to develop friendships and relationships with a variety of people, ideally successful people. Our advisers should be people with a good reputation, that are respected and above reproach.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

What Did Jesus Say About Owning Things?


We are bombarded with advertisements that tell us we need this thing and should want that thing.  It may be a new car, electronic device, appliance, home, or latest fashion. Is it wrong to have lots of nice stuff?

A man asked Jesus to act as judge and settle an inheritance. Jesus replied, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." Luke 12:14,15.

Christ did not tell the man to do without; or take a vow of poverty, (at least not here, but one may want to read all of Luke 12). He did not condemn owning things either.

BE ON YOUR GUARD
You guard against something because it can do you harm. When it comes to possessions we must be a watchful guard and not allow an enemy to true life enter.

     * A guard protects a location to keep evil from entering.
     * A guard must watch and keep looking for the foe.
     * A guard must be vigilant and not sleep or allow himself to be compromised.
     * A guard must be ready to do battle and even give his life to secure his post.

GREED
Greed always wants more. It has an appetite that is never quenched. It possesses for the sake of possession. Its focus is on the object.

Greed is an attitude of the heart. Two people may own the same object but each may have a different heart attitude, so for the one it is greed but for the other it is noble since he is acting as God's steward of a blessing.

LIFE
Life is not about getting things. There is nothing wrong with things or owing things but when we start to think the things give us meaning we have missed life. When we think things will make us happy we will not find happiness.

Jesus lived his words. He had to borrow a coin for an object lesson, (Matthew 22:19). He had to send Peter fishing to pay the tax,(Matthew 17:27). He had only the clothes on his back the day he died. (Mark 15:24). He said of himself, "Foxes have holes and birds have nest but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head." (Matthew 8:20).

WHAT IS LIFE ABOUT?
Jesus points to a relationship with the author of life; he said in his high priestly prayer of John 17, "This is eternal life that they may know You the only true God and him whom you sent." (John 17:3).

To learn more about how to have life in Christ follow this link to my other blog.
____________________________

Thank you for visiting my blog. 
I hope these post help.
See my most helpful post in the sidebar.

 Adron

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Monday, September 23, 2013

How to Become Poor

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.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

What Is Money According To Jesus?

Jesus taught often about money. In one parable* he told about a wealthy man who entrusted three different sums of money to three servants and left on a journey. Two invested and received profitable gains but one hid his trust in a hole in the ground.

The master returned to praise and promote the first two but to the third said, "You wicked, lazy servant! You knew I harvest where I have not sown and I gather where I have not scattered seed. You should have put my money on deposit with the bankers so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest." (Matthew 25:29.) He then reallocated the money to the one who did the most profit and removed the servant from service. (Literally threw him out, see the link below for the entire passage).

ACCOUNTING
The master trusted his servants with the money and later he had each give an account. He rewarded the industrious and faithful, but he condemned one who abused or neglected the trust. So money was the test for the servants.

PRAISE OR SHAME
God has given us gifts and blessings he has endowed us with talents and abilities. The day will come when we stand before him and give an answer for their use. This accounting is not to determine our salvation, since salvation is already given as a gift based on the death of Jesus who paid for all of our sins and if we receive the gift of eternal life we will never face judgment. The accounting seems to be a serious one though and appears to relate to eternal blessings and rewards, or for those who have a poor account it seems to be a point of shame.

WORD TO THE WISE
As we receive God's blessing in money or temporal goods let's consider how to best invest for the kingdom of God and the good of others. Let's beware of squandering blessings when instead we can increase them for others. Let's strive for the day when we shall say, "Look you gave me five talents, see I have made you five more!"

______________________________

Jesus spoke elsewhere of our having to give an account such as that we will "give account for every word idly spoken," Matthew 12:36.

*Matthew 25:14-30

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

What Does God Care About My Money?

Does God care about my money? Does he watch me earn it or spend it with any particular interest?

"Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me, but you ask how are we robbing you? In tithes and offerings." Malachi 3:8

Malachi asks a hilarious question. It is crazy to think you can get away with robbing God; He is the All-seeing Almighty Lord of the Universe. God as Ruler and Creator already owns all things, what we have is ultimately His and we are managers. He is not fooled that we haven't given back an acknowledgement of His favor.

RIGHT MOTIVES
We do not give to God to buy his favor, because he has already given it. God has been generous to us, and he is capable of lavish blessings. It is morally right to give back to him because it is an acknowledgement of his generosity.

GIVE
Jesus said "Render to Cesar what belongs to Cesar and render to God what belongs to God." (Matthew 22:20-22). God has a right to expect us to give tithes and offerings. He has given commands in his Word to bring offerings including thank offerings, first fruit, vows, giving for the poor, sharing with those who minister His Word and good old fashioned tithes.

WHAT IT SAYS
He has been generous to us and he is watching to see if we will be as generous. It is our sacrificial giving that proves we are the sons and daughters of the One who "so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son..." (John 3:16). If this is the nature of the Father it should be the nature of the children.

GOD
The Lord has a right to ask us to give. No one likes to be robbed and it is dangerous to rob the one who is All Powerful. In patience He has not dealt with us in judgment- but it is not wise to try His patience.

Resolve today to give back to God, be it through your faith community or a worthy charity that honors Him, and do it today. Don't do it because you hope to buy his favor, (you already have that; he gave his son for your sins), but because it is the right thing to do.

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

What Did Jesus Say About Wealth?

If Jesus was the greatest teacher who ever lived shouldn't we pay attention to what he said? He spoke about wealth several times, so what did he say and what will it mean to me?

In the parable of the sower Christ explained reasons why people do not respond to his teaching. The last reason was, "But the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things come in and choke the word making it unfruitful." Mark 4:19.

DECEITFUL
The Lord uses a strong and negative word to describe riches. Something or someone who is deceitful is dishonest, tells lies, tricks others, and can't be trusted.  A thing that is deceitful hides the truth. It promises one thing and gives another.

Riches promise much but it gives little. Wealth promises happiness, ease, popularity, comfort, power, freedom, enjoyment and more, but the wealthy are still lonely, worry, seek refuge, suffer depression, and continue to search for meaning.

RICHES CHOKE
To choke something is to slowly rob it of the air it needs to live. Often it is slow. The deceitfulness of wealth may slowly choke your life of the best. It may happen so slowly that you are not aware of it.

UNFRUITFUL
We may believe God and his Holy Word but the deception of riches can rob us of God's best blessings.

Instead we should remember the promises of the Father in Heaven who never breaks a promise and "delight in the Lord for he will give you the desire of your heart, (Psalm 37:4); and "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and these things will be added to you as well," (Matthew 6:33).

Sunday, August 18, 2013

What did Jesus Say About Greed?

Anybody can be greedy, a child or senior citizen, a minimum wage earner or a corporate executive. Is it a bad thing? Doesn't it drive and motivate our economy? Jesus took a different view.

A man's brother was getting an unfair share of the inheritance so he went to Jesus and asked him to help divide the inheritance but Jesus would not. Then Jesus said to the crowd...

"...Watch out be on your guard against all kinds of greed, life does not consist in an abundance of possessions." Luke 12:15.

GREED
Greed is a strong desire that consumes us, this desire is to have and keep for oneself possessions of perceived extreme value, and these possessions are far beyond our need.

WATCH OUT & BE ON YOUR GUARD
Greed is so serious Christ uses a double phrase to warn how urgent the situation is. He says we should guard like a soldier on the wall scanning the horizon for an invading enemy; we should not let up for a moment but be vigilant in guarding against the enemy. We do not guard against a friend but against a foe, and greed is an enemy we must guard against.

ALL KINDS OF GREED
There are many temptations to greed and it comes in many forms.
     * Comforts.
     * Treasures.
     * Security.
     * Wealth.
     * Superior living standard.
     * Freedom.
     * To live better than others.
We may each have our own private greed that is a particular temptation to us. We must know it and guard against it.

LIFE
No one said it better than Christ when he said, "Life does not consist of in an abundance of possessions." All these things do not add up to you.

Jesus lived the most beautiful life ever lived. He said, "I have come so you may have life and have it abundantly." (John 10:10). But he also said, "Birds have nest and foxes have holes but the son of man, (Christ) had nowhere to lay his head." (Luke 9:58). He was poor.

This abundant life Our Lord taught was more fulfilling than one of gratification, luxury, satisfaction, or gluttony. His life was a life of service, giving, deeds of charity, and acts of compassion.

His disciples do not seek poverty, but they do not seek possessions either. What they do seek is the Lord. "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be yours as well." Matthew 6:33.

Friday, July 26, 2013

What Does The Bible Say About Not Paying Back Loans?

Is it OK to borrow money knowing you can't pay it back? You might get away with default or bankruptcy. But is there something else to consider?

The Bible says: "The wicked borrow and do not repay, the righteous give generously." Pslam 37:21.

WICKED
The Bible labels the person who borrows without paying back as "Wicked." This is not just a bad person or a sinner but someone who is evil. They are head and shoulders above others who do wrong.

THE WICKED PERSON STEALS
To borrow and not repay is theft and worse than theft, it is to commit deception. It adds lying to the crime of theft.

THE WICKED PERSON DOES THINGS GOD HATES
The Bible list six things that the Lord hates; these sins are above all others, but one thing is repeated twice- it is lying. (Proverbs 6:16-19). You borrow and say you will repay but you don't that is lying. It is often an ongoing lie that has to be repeated or reinforced. Often you lie to yourself first then to those you are borrowing from.

THE WICKED PERSON JOINS GOD'S ENEMY
God has an enemy, one that is your enemy too. This enemy has a weapon he uses above all others, and one he started. When we lie we are like this enemy, following his footsteps and giving him strength in evil. Satin is called the father of lies and a liar from the beginning. (John 8:44). To lie is to become one of Satin's followers in practice and to continue the process of becoming like Satin in character.

THE WICKED PERSON ROBS GOD
God is your Creator, and not only yours but the Creator of the person, or Lord over the institution you are borrowing (stealing) from. He is Creator of all wealth and Lord over all economies. If your Creator and Lord entrust blessings to another person or institution and you rob that person or institution of God's property they were entrusted with you are really robbing God- The Almighty, All-Powerful, Supreme Being, Commander of Angelic Armies. The English language does not have a word that describes such limits of stupidity.

THE WICKED PERSON HURTS OTHERS
  • You hurt the person you rob. 
  • The people who know you see a liar and thief. 
  • You family are hurt because you a no longer a person of character they can count on.
  • Business relations are hurt because you are a hindrance. 
  • You hurt yourself because you have deceived yourself.
  • Your children and grandchildren are hurt by a tragic example they will follow.
  • Your economic future and that of your family.
  • You hurt your character. 
A LAST THOUGHT
DON'T DO IT!

(c) Adron

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

How Hard Should Someone Work To Get Wealthy?

We know we should work and that being lazy is a bad ethic. We know hard work will bring a profit; but how hard should you work? Is there a point where you have to draw the line?

"Do not wear yourself out to get rich, do not trust in your own cleverness. Cast but a glance at riches and they are gone, for they will sprout wings and fly away like an eagle." Proverbs 23:4-5, NIV.

WORN OUT
Something that is worn out becomes useless, it is exhausted and we toss it away. This could be the results of heavy physical or mental labor. We need to be wise enough to know when to call it a day.

CLEVERNESS
Cleverness is appealing because we think it would be easy if we could just figure out some way, an angle, or a method and make it work we will have wealth. The Bible says do not trust in your own cleverness. It is not a caution but a command- just don't go there!

THE REASON
Riches are temporary and fleeting. (Matthew 6:19). The image of riches sprouting wings is unnatural. This is the picture of the unexpected, there is no way you can prepare for something morphing into a huge bird and flying away.

If the verse said that riches would become an animal that runs, like a deer, you might say, "Well, OK, I'll chase it and catch it,"  but the eagle flies beyond the ability to retrieve it, it is utterly gone.

After you have worn yourself out and have nothing left the wealth you have gotten will be fleeting. The markets will crash, or the banks close, or something will take it away and you will have spent your life, youth, your relationships and your strength and have nothing to show for it.

Sunday, June 23, 2013

What The Bible Says About Sleeping In And Poverty

We want to sleep in and have days off, after all the media keeps telling us to take a break in one way or another. Is it a good thing to enjoy a lot of "me time?" Is there anything wrong in wanting a life of ease? Does the Bible say something about it?

"Do not love sleep or you will grow poor; stay awake and you will have food to spare." Proverbs 20:13. 

LOVE SLEEP
To love something is...
     * To think about it all the time,
     * It is your constant goal,
     * You can't wait for it,
     * You linger in its presence.
You may not actually spend days in bed but you are always wishing to be there it is the same- you love sleep.

THE METAPHOR
This metaphor is instructive. When you sleep your eyes are closed and you fail to see, you are doing nothing productive. So the metaphor suggests you do not see opportunities, you miss good use of your time, a chance to invest or work productively is missed.

GROW
To grow is normally a slow subtle process it is hard to observe from moment to moment. As time passes our poverty goes deeper and deeper, it doesn't happen overnight, or all of a sudden. Just as wealth grows slowly with investments so poverty slowly deepens with negligence.

STAY AWAKE
A wakeful person is alert. They know what is going on in their environment. A wakeful person is on guard and sees a chance to work overtime, a temp job, or an extra day.

This wakeful person is not tempted by amusements*, but is careful about recreation.

FOOD TO SPARE
A primary essential of life is food, and the one who does not love sleep not only has his need met he has extra to give away.

To have extra to share seems to be one of God's reasons for blessing us, it is not so we can hoard it but to spare it and give.

Days off and an occasional sleep in are OK as a reward for hard work  but when they become the normal habit of a lifestyle it leads to slow disaster.

* The word amusement comes from the French and means "To think not."

(c) Adron