The poor is disliked even by his neighbor, but the rich has many friends. Whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner, but blessed is he who is generous to the poor. — Proverbs 14:20-21

These two proverbs are an interesting duo.

In the first verse, Solomon focuses on external traits by drawing our attention to the status of two men and the relationships of each. First, a poor man who has no friends and is despised by his neighbors. Second, a rich man with many friends because he has money. And, as we know, this is principle rings true in life. A man with money has several friends for many reasons. Employment. Influence. Status. Provision.

In the second verse, Solomon transitions to addressing the internal traits of a man. You’ll notice he repeats a keyword from the previous verse — the word “neighbor.” And with this, he intentionally links the two proverbs together. He suggests that the wealthy man if he is righteous, has a responsibility to be generous. His money is a means of making friends and caring for the poor. But he does this to benefit the poor and himself, who is rich. The benefit to the poor is obvious. They need money and friends because they are both in a deficit. But there is also a benefit to the rich man because generosity rescues a rich man from the sinful attraction of greed. Because as we all know, greed can lead a rich man into sin and down the road of despising those with less.

So fellas, regardless of your life situation, we learn from this duo of sayings that we need a variety of men around us to balance us as men. We need men around us who are not just like us. Just like the rich man and the poor man, we each have a benefit for the other. So do you have a man around you who will keep you humble? And do you have a man around you who you aspire to be?

ASK THIS: Who is someone you need to pursue who is not just like you?

DO THIS: Befriend them for their benefit and yours.

PRAY THIS: God put men around me that will make me a better man. Rich and poor, I need both.

PLAY THIS: Brother — Need To Breathe.

Check out other all Vince Miller's videos and audios for small groups at: https://beresolute.org/

Get Vince's most widely read resources The Daily Devotional at: https://beresolute.org/mdd

Check out more ALL IN products like the one Vince is wearing at:
https://beresolute.org/product-category/all-in-hats/
____________________________________________________________________________________
Connect with Vince socially:
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/millervince
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/vinceleemiller
LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vincemiller
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/vinceleemiller