Give me neither poverty nor riches.
—Proverbs 30:8
Agur prayed that he would have neither too many shekels, nor too few—afraid that if he had too many, he might tune God out, and if he had too few, he might steal (Prv 30:8–9).
The Bible doesn’t condemn wealth, but it warns of its dangers:
A rich ruler, given the choice of giving up wealth or giving up Jesus, gave up Jesus (Lk 18:18–23).
Judas, given the choice of the Savior or silver, chose silver (Mt 26:14–16).
Ananias and Sapphira, given the choice of being honest about their giving or being deceitful, chose deceit (Acts 5:1–8).
Paul knew what it was like to have full pockets and what it was like to have empty ones—and had learned to be content with whichever he had (Phil 4:11–12).
The contented person is never poor;
the discontented never rich.