I was given a bottle of bait that was meant to last the day. My great aunt had a “secret” recipe for a soft dough made from white bread, Velveeta cheese, and a little water and flour. The night before we went fishing she would make a batch, pack it into those little bottles, and then assign one to each fisherman.
The trick was to turn that bottle of bait into fish. I learned that you couldn’t leave the lid off or it would dry out. On the other hand, you had to be careful not to leave it sitting where it could slide open into the water and get soaked through and ruined. It was fun to toss little bits of bait to the small fry in the shallows, but if you did too much of that, you would quickly get to the bottom of the bottle. Likewise, if you constantly whipped your line in casting, the bait would fly off the hook and be wasted. And the most frustrating threat to bait supply was the wily trout which would steal the dough right off the hook, over and over, without getting caught. Trying to set the hook too fast or too hard only aggravated this situation because it often pulled the hook right through the soft bait and left it behind for the fish to enjoy at their leisure.
Good fishing business meant taking that little treasure of bait and carefully stewarding it, but also putting it to good use for its intended purpose. The result was often a creel full of fish to take home for the skillet.
Good business means managing assets, stewarding them but also putting them to good use so that they result in profits. Yet fishing and business both take place in the larger context of the business of life, which itself requires that we discern our assets, those gifts which God has bestowed upon us, and both steward and put them to use.
Proverbs 11, like most chapters in the book, is a collection of sayings without any obvious single connection or theme. But this Sunday I’d like to suggest that the theme of “good business,” as I’ve described it above, the good stewarding and use of what God has given us, works pretty well as a way to get hold of this chapter.
Verses 1-3 begin the chapter with some words about the way we conduct literal business, calling for honesty, humility and integrity. Verse 4 then warns us not to mistake the business of making money for the real business of life. The following verses on through verse 11 suggest that our real business is righteousness.
Then verses 12 to 15 offer thoughts that may again apply to literal business practice, calling for gentle speech, trustworthiness, the seeking of advice, and the avoidance of risky ventures.
Verses 16 and 22 focus on women, the latter verse suggesting that physical beauty is a wasted asset in the absence of the virtue of kindness called for in verse 16.
Several verses in the last part of the chapter, 17, 18 and 24-26, suggest that good business includes generosity, that it is bad business to withhold what others need.
Verse 29, made famous by the play and film both titled “Inherit the Wind,” teaches us that the business of leaving or having a good inheritance is more about gracious and loving relationships in a family than about building a large bank account.
And the last two verses, 30 and 31, again place the greatest profit or value in the intangible wealth of righteousness and how we have built up and cared for each other. The final word of the chapter is another warning like we saw last week in 10:16 about the deadly repayment that will be received for bad business, that is, for wickedness.
If I had to take care of my little bottle of bait in order to come home with some fish, how much more do we need to do good business with what God has given us, in order to come home to Him with righteousness and love and life.