Vanity can come at a high price !

Saturday August 14, 2021

"Do not play the important part in front of the king, do not take the place of the great ! Indeed, it is better that one tell you : Come up here ! And that one does not have to lower you in front of the prince, after your eyes have seen it.” Proverbs 25. 6, 7

“Who can go up to the mountain of the Lord ? Who will be able to stand in his holy place ? He who has innocent hands and a pure heart, he who does not indulge in lies and who does not take deceptive oaths." Psalm 24, 3, 4

Vanity can come at a high price !

The history of France provides a cruel example of the truth of today's proverb. Nicolas Fouquet (1615-1680), skilful and efficient finance minister of Louis XIV, King of France, acquired a prodigious fortune in the exercise of his functions... thanks to certain irregularities. Colbert, who aspires to his post, denounces them to the king. He hesitates to indict a minister who restored the kingdom's finances by pulling them out of their catastrophic state.

But now Fouquet is giving a splendid feast in honor of the king, in the superb castle he had built for himself. The incredible luxury deployed on this occasion acts as a trigger on the young Louis XIV : he has his minister arrested. After a resounding 3-year trial, Fouquet was sentenced to life imprisonment in a fortress where he died 16 years later.

Why hadn't he read the proverb quoted today !

The Christian of the 21st century hardly has the opportunity to be in Fouquet's situation anymore. However, is he immune to vanity ? We know very well not, especially since this sin is not the exclusive property of wealthy people.

Besides material goods, health, physical strength and beauty, intelligence, knowledge, education, skill in its many forms, etc. in short, absolutely everything that a human being has been endowed with God and all that he can acquire by his abilities can become a matter of vanity and, therefore, an occasion to sin !

This is frightening enough that we are on our guard and seek remedy in the Word. What is she saying ? “What have you got that you haven't received ? And if you have received it, why make it proud as if you had not received it ?” (1 Corinthians 4. 7). Nothing therefore, in the Christian, should become a subject of vanity. James is adamant : “Any such pride is bad” (James 4:16) ; in contrast, “love does not boast” (1 Corinthians 13.4).

Finally, divine wisdom teaches us an ever-current prayer : “Remove falsehood and lies from me” (Proverbs 30. 8.).

Source (Pleasing the Lord)