A Truly Rich Life

“Better a small serving of vegetables with love than a fattened calf with hatred.” – Proverbs 15:17

I love the proverbs in the Old Testament, because they’re short but bursting with meaning and application. And the more you take your time with them, like a fellow slowly, methodically sweeping the beach with his metal detector, the more you’re likely to find.

For instance, take a look at Proverbs 15:17. If we take this verse strictly at face value, it might sound a little quirky—but let’s stretch it a bit. The setting is the dinner table, but think about the whole household. And the example it uses is simple versus luxurious foods, but consider the bigger financial pictures those meals represent: a meager lifestyle on a measly budget, versus a lavish lifestyle with a silver spoon firmly planted in your mouth.

Now, imagine a life with everything you ever wanted—except love. Or, a life where loving, caring relationships were about the only things you had to your name. Wisdom is knowing which of those lives is truly rich. The central message of this quirky little verse is: the state of your relationships matters more than the state of your home or of your finances.

In other words: you’re better off in a rusty trailer with a lemon in the driveway outside and an affectionate family inside, than you’d be in a skyscraper penthouse with every amenity and a panorama view, plus resentment and hostility.

And, I think there’s an even more fundamental, unspoken message here about our priorities. Am I focused on the menus in my home, or the relationships? A fattened calf, or love? Sometimes we expend a lot of energy and make a big fuss over some of the window dressings of life, but those things can’t guarantee happiness and are no substitute for what matters most: your people, your calling, and your faith.

This little proverb leaves us with some significant questions to ponder:

• Are you working harder at putting food on your table or at nurturing love under your roof?
• Have any of the good things in your life (like comforts and conveniences) been distracting you from the best things in your life?
• Do the priorities you’re pursuing achieve enjoyable, pleasing results, or important results?
• Do your time and effort reflect the things you actually value the most, or do they reflect goals you’ve just inherited from the culture, or routines you’ve unintentionally fallen into over time?
• How intentional are you about resolving conflicts and fostering strong relationships in your home?

Reading chapter 15, you could easily zoom right past this proverb, but if you really chew on the words—stretching it, searching it, interrogating it—I think this small serving of vegetables turns out to be a fattened calf of wisdom.

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