“The crown of the wise ones is wealth; the folly of fools is folly.”
~ Proverbs 14.24
Wealth is not always measured on a balance sheet. There are many forms of wealth, something that George Bailey learned in his odyssey in the movie It’s A Wonderful Life. Wisdom, righteousness, peace, integrity, children, grandchildren, and many other riches make a man wealthy. Wealth can be measured in possessions, but that is not the only form wealth takes. Whatever form wealth takes, one principle is consistent concerning the true wealth to which Solomon’s son must aspire: wealth is the crown of wisdom.
Crowns are conspicuous in Proverbs. Gray hair (16.31), a man’s excellent wife (12.4), and grandchildren (17.6) are all crowns. Crowns are mentioned many times throughout Scripture. We, with Paul, are striving for an imperishable crown (1Cor 9.25), the crown of life (Jms 1.12; Rev 2.10), which is a crown of righteousness that will be given to all who love the appearing of Christ Jesus (2Tm 4.8). Faithful elders in the church will be rewarded with an unfading crown of glory (1Pt 5.4).
Crowns aren’t non-physical metaphors. Aaron, the high priest, wore a crown that said, “Holiness to Yahweh” (Ex 29.6; 39.30). Kings were crowned with circlets made with precious metals and stones (e.g., 2Sm 12.30). Victors in the Corinthian games received a laurel wreath, a perishable crown, to acknowledge their victory (1Cor 9.25).
Crowns designate the weight, responsibility, and beauty of a particular calling through which kingly dominion is taken. Man is crowned in his creation with glory and honor, dominion over creation (Ps 8). He is expected to exercise authority and grow into that crown and make it more glorious, something Jesus accomplished (Heb 2.5-8).
The crown is a sign of authority, but it is also the fruit of authority. You are crowned when you are found worthy. Paul tells the Corinthians to run in such a way as to obtain the imperishable crown (1Cor 9.24). God crowns the faithfulness of his people, giving them greater responsibility when they have shown they are faithful in the smaller things.
God grants the crown of wealth to those who have cultivated wisdom. Wisdom must be cultivated. The crown comes through disciplined, wise labor. Athletes who win their perishable crowns must discipline their bodies, and we who win the imperishable crown must discipline our bodies (1Cor 9.24-27). True wealth, wealth that will endure through death, is the result of diligence in doing what God calls you to do. There are no get-rich-quick schemes in God’s economy. That kind of wealth doesn’t last. God’s reward for a life lived wisely is the crown of wealth, increasing your glory, dominion, responsibility, authority, and splendor.
Not so for the fools. The reward of the folly of fools is greater folly. Folly is not silliness or innocent immaturity. Folly is rebellion against God that brings chaos, destruction, and death. When you cultivate folly, you reap folly exponentially.
The basic principle of sowing and reaping is that you reap what you sow (Gal 6.7). You are planting seeds that will yield the fruits of wisdom or of folly. You are cultivating one or the other. There is no third alternative. Thorns and thistles aren’t conquered through passivity. They must be actively fought. Passivity actively cultivates thorns and thistles.
This is the law of sowing and reaping: you can’t plant thorns and hope for apple trees. You can’t sow folly and then pray for a crop failure. “Don’t be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that will he also reap” (Gal 6.7). This isn’t an impersonal “law of nature.” There is a personal God who ensures that there will be a harvest.
There are people, some claiming the name of Christ and others that don’t, who live unfaithfully, planting seeds of foolishness, and then, when the harvest of folly comes in, they bemoan their condition, ask for prayer, and start claiming God’s promises on their behalf. They don’t want to plant different seeds (that is, change what they are doing). They only wish for God to take away the consequences of their actions. God will crown you with what you cultivated.
Even if God grants repentance and a person turns from his foolishness, there may be lingering consequences that he must live with. If you drive drunk, wreck your car, and lose a limb or take someone else’s life, God will forgive you if you repent, but the consequences will linger. He will give you grace to live with the consequences, but what is done is done. You reap what you sow.
“That doesn’t sound very gracious.” Well, the grace of God teaches you to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts to avoid these consequences (Ti 2.11-12). God’s grace is the instruction of Proverbs that says, “If you don’t want to reap the harvest of folly, don’t act like a fool.” If you disregard this grace of instruction, you will reap calamity and, at that time, Wisdom may be laughing at you and mocking you (Pr 1.24-32). If you want to avoid the harvest of a fool, listen to wise instruction.
If you have planted foolish seeds, you need to know that God will forgive you, but you must stop the foolish farming. Stop doing stupid stuff. (Biblically, this is repentance). You do this by determining what kind of harvest you want and planting those seeds. If you want wisdom’s harvest, you must plant wisdom’s seeds. This means trusting the Lord’s instruction and not your own understanding (Pr 3.5-6) and doing what he says to do. Determine the disciplines that need to be put in place to get you to where you want to go, and do them, not letting anything knock you off the path. If you have a goal of running a marathon, you won’t be able to do that by sitting on your bum playing video games all the time. You would have to train. The imperishable crown, this harvest of wisdom, is much more critical than any marathon. You must discipline yourself.
God crowns the wise with wealth. He only crowns the wise with wealth. Cultivate wisdom.
