Proverbs - Don't Evaluate People by Their Wealth

Proverbs 14:20-21

 The poor is hated even of his own neighbour:

but the rich hath many friends.

 He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth:

but he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he.

This verse catches us off guard at first.  Why would the Lord be pointing out that people like to be around others who are rich and don’t want to hang out with someone who is poor?  Well, He answers it by the following verse.  Despising someone due to their economic worth is sin. We must never esteem someone with money as better to hang out with than those who do not.  Sometimes we can favor the rich because of the apparent lack of troubles or the benefits we could gain from them.  This is sin.  Our value of other people comes from God’s standard of value and worth because they have been made by Him and for Him.   Every human being is to be valued – in the womb, on the streets, in the mansion and in the mental hospitals.  Our hearts must beat with a desire to love and treat others with a consistent respect and mercy.  Here we are told that we will be happy when we can love and enjoy everyone around us.  The Lord warns us about this tendency to favor the rich in the New Testament:

James 2:1-4  My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?

We don’t want to be ‘partial’ or ‘divided’ in ourselves.  We want our lives to be consistent sources of support and love to everyone we meet.  In our society, status can creep into our value systems without us even detecting it.  Let us sit before the Lord and these warnings and ask Him to cause us to value others based on their worth in His eyes and no other source of value.