Proverbs 21 20 says there is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise But a foolish man spendeth it up There are some people who have plenty and but find themselves destitute because the way they handle what they have. A wise man can take a certain amount of treasure and oil and be the envy of others as he lives in comfort and peace, but the foolish man will take that same amount of treasure and oil and end up broke. The word treasure here is similar to our word assets. There are liquid assets and hard assets, to keep things simple. Treasure includes cash money in our wallet or a bank account. These days accessible using a bank card or just the numbers of that card. But the reference to oil, it sounds liquidy, but it's actually a reference to what we call hard assets. Possessions that aren't worth, they're not money in and of themselves, but they can be sold and turned into liquid assets like cash and money in our bank accounts. Some folks just don't understand that most rich people aren't carrying around a lot of money, and they don't even have a lot of money in their bank accounts. Most of those that we call rich have mostly hard assets. In the time of Solomon, when Proverbs was written, olive oil was a major hard asset. People would stock up on it if they were well off, and the more you were able to stock, the more wealth you had in real terms. Today, people buy stocks and bonds, real estate, art, all that kind of thing. You can't use them as cash. You can't take a painting in and cash it at the restaurant for a meal. But they're worth a lot of money, and their worth grows over time. So it's called an investment. You buy stock at $100 a share, years later the stock is worth $200 a share. Most people understand that concept and it's called appreciation. If you buy something this year but it's worth less next year, that's called depreciation. And all of us have to buy such things in order to get by. When you buy a car, the saying is that the moment you drive it off the lot, it begins to depreciate. That's not just a saying, that's a fact. So the wise man limits the amount of things that he buys that depreciate and maximizes the things that he buys that appreciate. On the contrary, the foolish man spends all of his money just eating out at restaurants all the time, buying a house that he can't afford, or just rents without making any genuine effort to buy and own a home. He spends too much money on clothes, entertainment, and other such things that only depreciate in value. A moderate amount of spending on such things is fine, it's necessary. But the foolish pretty much only spend their money on such things and little to nothing that could be called an investment. that appreciate. Now guns and ammo, by the way, are an example of things that appreciate. Ammo can be a problem if the gun owner shoots it all away. That ammo has depreciated to no value. But the wise man buys bulk and sets a limit for his use. The rest sits in storage safely and appreciates in value. And when he dies, he leaves his family a small fortune in guns and ammo. And so it is in the matter of spiritual things. The wise man spends a certain amount of money on a good Bible, good biblical tools for use in Bible study and so forth. But he doesn't go overboard. He invests time in study, including attending the local church and giving tithes and offerings, and then preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who will listen. The wise man gains wisdom from the Bible and is then blessed by God for his wise use of his time and money, as well as the investments that he's made in the kingdom of God. Not so the fool. The fool wastes his time, invests very little in Bible study, and neglects tithing and giving offerings. He remains foolish due to Bible ignorance and forfeits the blessings reserved for Christians who are cheerful givers with charity in their heart. As 2 Corinthians 9, 7, Paul says, every man according as he purposeth in his heart. That's where the whole crux of the issue is. So let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver.