Thursday, June 3

Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.
—Proverbs 23:23

Just open the checkbook and it will become clear that we spend our money on all sorts of things—some that are crucial to the living of our lives, and others that are frivolous and unnecessary. When we buy something, we frequently are responding to an impulse that has formed in our mind and heart. 

We may have been plied by the advertising of marketers, or we may believe that the item will make our lives deeper and richer, or we may simply be fulfilling a long-term unmet desire. Whatever the reason for the purchase, we are usually buying commodities, not truth.

What would it even look like to buy truth? Or wisdom, instruction, or understanding? That’s not what department stores are packaging these days! When we think of how we buy, it would be useful to think not only of how we spend our money, but how we spend our life’s energy.

Our money is gained through our applied energy, and our goods through our money. Imagine spending our life’s energy on procuring truth, wisdom, instruction, or understanding. It would certainly mean that we would spend our time differently. It would mean that our heart would be focused in another place. It would change the look of our checkbook register—not to mention our life.

O God, help me choose to spend my life on truth instead of the wares the marketers seduce me to buy.

These Signposts originally appeared on explorefaith in 2004.