Proverbs 23

Proverbs 23 is chock full of wisdom for everyone, but especially for those in leadership roles.

Leadership roles come in many forms: at work, in the family to name a few.

Leaders have a ton of responsibility, and also often receive many benefits.

In this world we have phrases such as, “You’ve arrived!” to mark the moment you have made it to some level of worldly success.

Proverbs warns us to be very careful of how these benefits affect us—that “the want of them” not cause undue desire.

Consider verses 1 through 5. They are meant to warn us off from desiring what a ruler possesses. Look at verse 2! It says we should cut our own throats rather than desire the delicacies at the rulers table.

The reality is, in our hierarchical world, we cannot escape that there are others who have more—and if you are in a leadership role, you probably have more, but maybe not quite as much as others!

Many people in leadership roles have benefits, such as assistants or other perks, to make them more efficient and effective. 

Consider people who have drivers. There is logic. They are so busy, every moment of their day needs to be focused on the important tasks at hand. I personally spent 11 hours this week driving. I made up the lost time at night.

As I said, many of these benefits are logical. The challenge becomes when we see them somehow as status symbols, signs that we have arrived—and worse, if we desire them in an undue proportion.

The danger, and the solution, lies in the idea of desire. We must desire God above all else.

What is it you desire?