Proverbs 19:1 - Homiletics

Poverty and integrity

I. IT IS POSSIBLE FOR POVERTY TO BE FOUND WITH INTEGRITY . We do not always see integrity leading to wealth. Circumstances may not open up an opportunity for attaining worldly prosperity. Illicit "short cuts" to riches may be within the reach of a person who refuses to use them on grounds of principle. A man may be honest and yet incapable, or he may refuse to pursue his own advantage, preferring to devote his energies to some higher end. No one has a right to suppose that God will interfere to heap up riches for him on account of his integrity. He may be upright, and yet it may phase God that he shall also be poor.

II. IT IS POSSIBLE FOR INTEGRITY TO BE FOUND WITH POVERTY . We now approach the subject from the opposite side. Here we first see the poverty, and we then find. that there is no reason why the character should be low because the outside circumstances are reduced. There is no more vulgar or false snobbishness than that which treats poverty as a vice, and assumes that a shady character must be expected with shabby clothes. We sometimes hear the expression, "Poor but honest," as though there were any natural antithesis between the two adjectives! It would be quite as just to think of an antithesis between wealth and uprightness. But experience shows that no one section of society holds a monopoly of virtue.

III. WHEN INTEGRITY AND POVERTY ARE FOUND TOGETHER , THE ONE IS A CONSOLATION FOR THE OTHER . It may be said that a hungry man cannot feed upon his honesty. But when pressing wants are supplied, it is possible to endure a considerable amount; of hardship if a person is conscious of being upright and true. The sturdy independence of the honest man wilt lift him out of the shame of penury. If he feels that he is walking in the path of duty, he will have a source of strength and inward peace that no wealth can bestow. The gold of goodness is better than the guineas of hoarded wealth.

IV. INTEGRITY WITH ANY EXTERNAL DISADVANTAGES IS BETTER THAN CORRUPTION OF CHARACTER WITH ALL POSSIBLE WORLDLY PROFIT . Here is the point of the subject. It is not affirmed that poverty is good in itself—the natural instincts of man lead him, endeavour to escape from it as an evil It is not even asserted that it is right for upright men to be poor, for surely cue would desire that the power of wealth should be in the hands of those people who would use it most justly. But when we have to compare integrity joined to the disadvantages of poverty with an unworthy character in no matter what circumstances, the infinite superiority of metal to material worth should lead us to prefer the former. In higher regions, the Christian character is itself a source of blessedness, whatever be the condition of the outer life. Character and conduct are the essentials of life; all other things are but the accidents.