“Whoever loves pleasure will become poor; whoever loves wine and olive oil will never be rich.”
In this instance wine and olive oil were signs of opulence and excess. They were mostly representative of times of feasting by the wealthy. Loving pleasure is different than appreciating it. God designed our pleasure receptors in the brain. He certainly did not create them to torture us with things we should never enjoy. It is the excess of anything that He reminds us is destructive to our finances and future. We all have a basic addictive nature for certain things when not under the spirits control. Whether it is a half gallon of cookie dough (some of you had a ping in your pleasure receptors by my just referring to that) or the never satisfied balance in your investment account it can be a struggle not to allow them to control our actions. There is nothing inherently evil with wine or olive oil. Jesus actually produced the finest wine to be enjoyed by wedding guests in Cana of Galilee as His first miracle. I’ll let the Baptist’s and Presbyterians quibble over what that means to us today. One thing it does not mean is over indulgence is ok. He also was anointed by a years wages worth of olive oil and did not rebuke the women who did it. Can you really waste anything on Jesus. Too much of anything can kill you is an old saying. Today rejoice and enjoy all God’s gifts yet in moderation and when appropriate. #BeTheEdge
“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” James 1:17 NIV
