The Good Life

​Young at Heart Message
 
Today I chose to preach on Proverbs rather than the Gospel because I think today’s passage from Proverbs offers us some wonderful insights.
 
The passage is essentially a personification of Lady Wisdom.
 
She invites the young and the foolish to eat and drink at her table so they might gain understanding and live better lives.
 
This method of teaching wisdom to young people seems highly effective!
 
I was young once – believe me, I know how effective a free meal can be at getting the young to be a captive audience so that a message can be conveyed.
 
Now of course, this can be a good thing or a bad thing. But for the sake of this passage, I would argue it is a good thing.
 
The entire aim of the wisdom literature in the Bible – of which Proverbs is the quintessential example – is to teach [young] people how to live with wisdom and integrity, and how to live the “good life” in the best sense of that term.
 
But of course, the way we tend to think of “the good life” today is very different than what the writers of wisdom literature viewed as the good life.
 
I don’t know if any of you remember these, but Maserati used to have an ad that looked like this:

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​The implication of course is that the key to an extraordinary life is owning a luxury vehicle.
 
This notion that owning nice things, having money, or “keeping up with the Joneses” is the way we measure and achieve having a “good life” is a cultural phenomenon that has plagued humanity for a very long time.
 
And yet, most of us don’t question it, really. We strive to earn more, save more, buy nicer things, own nicer homes, own nicer cars, take expensive vacations… the list goes on and on.
 
And, when people can’t achieve these things, they fall into the trap of longing for a life they simply cannot support.
 
People go into debt trying to keep up with cultural expectations that having more and better things is the key to the good life.
 
While this might seem a ridiculous way to live, we are subconsciously receiving messages regularly that tell us that this way of living is the only way to truly have a good life.
 
So even if we know intuitively that this isn’t true, it is hard not to succumb to the cultural implications that not having the nicest things makes us some kind of failure as human beings.
 
Our worth, of course, doesn’t stem at all from the things we own, the money we have, the way we look, the people we know, or any other arbitrary thing we use to measure status in society.
 
And yet, it is hard for us to break out of that way of thinking.
 
I’ll give you a quick example.
 
I feel like I live a fairly modest lifestyle.
 
Of course, I wish I had more money – I long to save more, I wouldn’t mind replacing some of the things I own, I might like to buy new furniture, etc.
 
But, when I think back to the years I spent in university and shortly after graduating, I made next to nothing.
 
I was close enough to the poverty level that I considered applying for assistance, though I think I was just over the limit so likely wouldn’t have been accepted anyway.
 
But I survived (even though, looking back, I have no idea how I survived)!
 
I would have been thrilled to make the income I make today!
 
And yet, today, I still long for more.
 
It almost seems that the more we earn, the more we long for more.
 
When I was barely getting by all those years ago, I just wanted things to be a little easier.
 
I didn’t want to be rich necessarily, but I wanted to be a little better off so that I didn’t have to worry as much about money.
 
Of course, I’ve since learned that it doesn’t matter how much you make – you always long for more.
 
The Message
 
So, is this desire to have more than we currently have actually allowing us to live a good life?
 
Is this culture of “keeping up with the Joneses” actually providing a good life?
 
Or do we end up always striving for more?
 
When we finally reach the next level – the level at which we think we will be happy – do we stop striving, or do we then want to get to the next level?
 
Lady Wisdom would sigh and say “hey, set aside this life of immaturity and always longing for more. Instead, join me at my table, rest, and walk in the way of insight.”
 
The writers of the wisdom texts could appreciate material prosperity, but they did not consider it life’s ultimate goal.
 
Instead, they urged their readers to live lives of virtue, integrity, honesty, hard work, and faithfulness.
 
There was a sense that they knew that when we get to the end, none of the “stuff” is going to matter anyway.
 
What will matter is how we lived, not what we achieved or what stuff we owned when we reach the finish line.
 
Living a life of virtue may not seem extraordinary in the way the Maserati ad would imply our lives need to be in order to be extraordinary.
 
However, a life of integrity, honesty, self-control, and faithfulness is extraordinary in the best sense of the word.
 
The person who puts into practice the teachings of the wisdom sages may become an example of a way of being in the world that is neither flashy nor attention-seeking, but is in fact noteworthy and, in its own way, quite remarkable.
 
People with such wisdom possess qualities that draw others to them in ways that material prosperity simply can’t.
 
The feast that Lady Wisdom invites us to is an invitation to a life of virtue and integrity, honesty and generosity.
 
By contrast, just a few verses further in this chapter, Folly issues an invitation to her own feast.
 
She uses the same exact words that Wisdom uses: “You who are simple, turn in here!”
 
Folly’s invitation is tempting to the young, the naïve, and those who are more concerned about material wealth and prosperity.
 
But, those who might be tempted aren’t aware that Folly’s feast consists of stolen water and the bread of secrecy.
 
Those who choose to accept Folly’s invitation aren’t aware they are “in the depths of Sheol” – in other words, they are on the path toward death.
 
Of course, Proverbs and the wisdom writers tend to speak in ways that seem a bit cryptic, admittedly.
 
What we can understand from this passage is that Wisdom’s feast is always available to us, and she will always call out to us to “walk in the way of insight.”
 
Even if we have occasionally been tempted by Folly’s feast, we can always accept Wisdom’s invitation.
 
What does that look like in a world where Folly’s invitation is accepted by more of us than we care to admit?
 
Well, it could look different for everyone, but perhaps it’s a meal together as a family or a small group of friends.
 
Perhaps it’s reading a book instead of watching a movie.
 
Perhaps it’s giving to a charity instead of buying that new outfit or a new car.
 
Maybe it’s telling someone you love them if it’s been too long.
 
Wisdom’s invitation is a call to be self-aware.
 
It is an opportunity to look at our lives and acknowledge the ways in which we have been living based on cultural influences rather than by Wisdom’s virtue.
 
She is not suggesting that we entirely set aside worldly comforts, necessarily.
 
She is simply suggesting that we aren’t living lives in which our sole purpose is to accumulate wealth, status, and “things.”
 
Whatever shape Wisdom’s feast takes in your life and in the lives of the people you love, may her feast be satisfying in the way that only real food and real bread can be.
 
May it nurture your soul and bear fruit in your life so that others might be sustained by that fruit.
 
And, may it teach you wisdom as you seek to walk in the way of Christian discipleship.
 
Amen.
 
Let us pray:
 
God of compassion, help us to see the ways in which our lives are good, and help us to break the cycle of always longing for more. Help us to live lives of virtue, and to share ourselves with others in ways that honour our own gifts, and the needs of other people. Help us to open our eyes to the good life as You would have our lives be, rather than as society might dictate for us. Grant to us Your grace and mercy in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.