September 24, 2026

Business by the Book

Proverbs 13: 11 Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase.

He came by our house at about 7:00 pm. He was a young college student (so he said); I was in my late teens and had a good job. He was selling subscriptions to magazines in order to pay for his college tuition. I thought, “Why not,” so I helped him out. I paid him cash for three magazines. I never received one issue of any of those magazines. Later I found out that some neighbours had also been hoodwinked.

The wealth gotten by selling magazine subscriptions that did not exist was wealth gotten by vanity. The word “vanity” as used here means: vapor or breath. The promise of the magazines being delivered to my home was vanity; it was nothing but breath, a vapor of a promise that dissipated as soon as the money exchanged hands. No doubt that wealth earned from a fraudulent sales pitch was diminished.

Had the magazines actually been delivered to my home, I probably would have renewed the subscription with the sales person over and over again. The income he could have received could have continued on for years and even increased by perhaps signing up for more subscriptions by others in our home. The wealth obtained was diminished when it could have increased. So it is with vain promises. They reduce labor on behalf of the one making the promise in the short term, but in the long term they have to continually work harder to gain new customers to rob their money rather than building long term relationships based on trust with customers that will continue, and possibly increase, the purchase of their products and services.

Every promise given includes with it the nature of vanity or labor. One will lead to diminished wealth, the other to increased prosperity.

Dr. William Howe