Over-Indulgence

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

Today I'm posting Proverbs 21:17, a verse that talks about the impacts of over-indulging. From the NIV:

Whoever loves pleasure will become poor; whoever loves wine and olive oil will never be rich.

Another phrasing from the Contemporary English Version:

Heavy drinkers and others who live only for pleasure will lose all they have.

And from the Message:

You’re addicted to thrills? What an empty life! The pursuit of pleasure is never satisfied.

Here's what I get out of this verse: If you over-indulge in "fun" and "pleasure", you'll end up being poor.

We all know people that have to drive the newest cars, eat at only the best restaurants, take lavish vacations, buy the latest technology and on and on. They are living for pleasure and spending everything they have in search of happiness. As such, they will never be rich.

So the moral of the story is to enjoy yourself, but do it in moderation. It's what I call moderate and selective frugality.

What are your thoughts on this verse?

Comments

[Mike Hunt]

Agree about not overindulging and that is the key message here.

Olive oil and red wine is good for health... if used in moderation!

-Mike

[Old Limey]

Hi Mike!
Overindulging in food has reached epidemic proportions in the USA, you can't go anywhere these days without seeing people that are massively overweight and prime candidates for diabetes. Unfortunately even the young children of these families are often already showing the early signs of being overweight.

Olive oil is all we use when needed for cooking. We drink Chardonnay but both take a max strength Resveratrol capsule (from Costco) every day that is made from a red wine extract.
As for pleasure, nothing beats the pleasure of being in a long and happy marriage.

[Mike Hunt]

Hi Old Limey,

You are correct- it is the combination of overeating and eating the wrong foods that make it easy to become overweight and potentially have symptoms that eventually lead to diabetes.

I believe the highly processed and refined foods are one of the culprits... they have a ton of carbohydrates and not much nutrition. I've noticed that if I eat these type of foods I actually become hungrier than the feeling I get by not eating at all... bread is a bit like that as well.

It is amazing how little we really need to sustain ourselves, and we live in an age where we have an abundance of food that is doing damage to our bodies. Fortunately it is easy to correct for once we pay more attention to what foods we are eating and what this is doing to our bodies... I am living proof of this- when I met with you last November I was around 200lbs or so, today I'm at 185lbs and feeling much better.

-Mike