Here Are My Thoughts

READ: Proverbs 16

“Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues with injustice.”     (Proverbs 16:8)

As some of you know, I coach football at Marietta High School. (Go Tigers!) I learn a lot from all the guys on our coaching staff, including our head coach, Jason Schob. One of my favorite things that Jason says is a message he communicates often to our team: “I’d rather go 0-10 with kids who are doing things the right way than go 10-0 with kids who are punks.” 

This statement shows a lot about how Jason is as a person and coach, and the type of program he is running. And it also echoes what Solomon says in Proverbs 16:8.

This verse runs counter to what much of our world and society is about in this day and age-getting ahead and gaining advantage, often at any and all costs. Our world is full of great businesses and highly successful people, making great advances and accumulating lots of wealth, but at what cost? It seems as if every day, another executive or leader has a moral failure. Some of the largest companies in the world have been marred by corruption throughout their history. At what point does success “at all costs” cost too much? 

So maybe it’s time that we follow Solomon’s lead here, and value integrity and character over growth and success. Please hear me-I’m not saying that being wealthy is wrong. I don’t think that at all. What I am saying is that instead of worrying so much about how much we get, maybe we should worry more about how we get there. Because whatever we can acquire in this life isn’t worth doing it in a way that is immoral or dishonoring.

Maybe this is what Jesus meant when He said, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and lose his soul?” 

-Brett