The Currency of Manhood Text: Proverbs 19:22
Introduction: A World of Liars
We are swimming in an ocean of lies. Our entire civilization is built upon a series of profound and soul-destroying falsehoods. We are told that a man can become a woman, that debt is wealth, that freedom is slavery, and that truth is whatever a man wants it to be in his own heart. The father of all this is, of course, the father of lies. And because we have abandoned the God of truth, we have been given over to a strong delusion, to believe what is false. We have traded the truth of God for a lie and have begun to worship the creature rather than the Creator.
Into this chaos of deceit, the book of Proverbs speaks with a bracing and lapidary clarity. Proverbs does not offer gentle suggestions for self-improvement. It draws a sharp, two-edged sword and divides the world as it truly is. It separates the wise from the fool, the righteous from the wicked, the diligent from the sluggard, and, as we see in our text today, the man of loyal love from the man of falsehood. This is not a spectrum; it is a chasm.
Our text today sets before us a divine evaluation of what makes a man truly desirable, what gives him weight and substance in the eyes of God and in the estimation of the wise. And it contrasts this substantial man with a hollow man, a man of falsehood. The world tells you that what is desirable in a man is his income, his influence, his charm, his physique, or his autonomy. But God, who designed manhood, tells us something entirely different. He gives us the true currency of masculinity, and it is not what you will find on any earthly exchange. It is a currency of covenant faithfulness.
This proverb is a diagnostic tool. It forces us to ask what we truly value. Do we value the appearance of success, even if it is built on a lie? Or do we value rock-solid integrity, even if it comes clothed in rags? Our answer to that question reveals whether we are thinking with the mind of Christ or with the mind of the world. And in a world drowning in lies, the man who stands on the truth, even if he has nothing else, is an island of reality in a sea of illusion. He is a rock in a world of mist.
The Text
What is desirable in a man is his lovingkindness,
And better is a poor man than a man of falsehood.
(Proverbs 19:22 LSB)
The Essence of a Man (v. 22a)
The first clause gives us God's definition of a valuable man.
"What is desirable in a man is his lovingkindness..." (Proverbs 19:22a)
The world has a long list of what it finds "desirable in a man." But the Spirit of God cuts through all the noise and gets right to the heartwood. The desirable quality is "lovingkindness." The Hebrew here is hesed. This is one of the most important words in the Old Testament, and our English "lovingkindness" or "steadfast love" is a noble attempt to capture it. Hesed is not a sentimental, squishy feeling. It is not the Hallmark card version of love. Hesed is covenant loyalty. It is rugged, stubborn, unrelenting faithfulness. It is the love that says, "I gave my word, and I will die before I break it."
This is the defining attribute of God Himself. When God revealed His glory to Moses, He described Himself as "abounding in hesed" (Exodus 34:6). God's hesed is His covenant faithfulness to His people. Even when we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. His love is not a fickle emotion; it is a sovereign commitment.
And so, what is most desirable in a man, who is made in the image of God, is that he reflect this very character. A man is most a man not when he is dominating, or conquering, or posturing, but when he is faithful. A man's glory is his loyalty. This is the bedrock of patriarchy, rightly understood. The husband's headship is not a license to command, but a commission to die. It is a charge to reflect the hesed of Christ toward His bride, the church. A desirable man is one whose word is his bond. He is loyal to his God, loyal to his wife, loyal to his children, and loyal to his post. He is a covenant-keeper.
Our culture, of course, despises this. It promotes a counterfeit masculinity that is all about self-assertion, autonomy, and the refusal to be bound by any oath or obligation. It celebrates the rogue, the rebel, the man who lives for himself. But this is not strength; it is infantile weakness. True strength, true desirability, is found in the man who binds himself with oaths and keeps them, come what may. He is a pillar, not a tumbleweed.
The Great Revaluation (v. 22b)
The second clause presents us with a stark choice, a divine reordering of our values.
"And better is a poor man than a man of falsehood." (Proverbs 19:22b)
Here the proverb sets up a contrast that is profoundly offensive to the spirit of our age. We are given two men to evaluate. The first is a poor man. In the world's eyes, he is a nobody. He has no assets, no influence, no platform. He is invisible. The second man is a "man of falsehood," or a liar. This man might be quite successful. In fact, his success is very likely built upon his lies. He is the smooth talker, the deal maker who cuts corners, the politician who promises everything, the pastor who tickles ears, the husband who lives a double life. He has the appearance of success, but his core is rotten.
The Spirit of God says, "better is the poor man." Why? Because the poor man, in this context, is the man who possesses the hesed from the first clause, but nothing else. He has integrity, but his pockets are empty. The liar has full pockets, but his soul is empty. God is telling us that reality is better than illusion. Substance is better than show. A man who is faithful in his poverty is of infinitely more value than a man who has gained the whole world through deceit.
A "man of falsehood" is a man whose entire being is defined by lies. He doesn't just tell lies; he is a lie. His promises are vapor. His commitments are conditional. His public persona is a carefully constructed fraud. He is a hollow man, a counterfeit. He may have a great deal of earthly treasure, but it is fool's gold. It is Monopoly money in the economy of God's kingdom.
The poor man, on the other hand, possesses the one thing that has eternal weight: a character that reflects the God of truth. He may not be able to give great gifts, but his word is gold. He may not be able to make grand promises, but the small promises he makes, he keeps. He would rather suffer loss than be found a liar. He fears God, and that is the beginning of his wisdom. And God says this man is better. He is more desirable, more valuable, and ultimately, more blessed.
Living in the Truth
So what does this mean for us? This proverb is intensely practical. It is a call to re-calibrate our desires and our evaluations.
First, for the men, it is a call to cultivate hesed. Your primary calling as a man is to be a covenant-keeper. This is the essence of true masculinity. Are you a man of your word? When you make a vow to your wife, do you keep it? When you promise something to your children, do you follow through? When you confess Christ as Lord, is your life loyal to that confession? This is what makes you desirable in the eyes of God and in the eyes of a godly woman. All the rest is just window dressing.
Second, it is a call to value integrity over image. We live in an age of branding, of social media personas, of carefully curated appearances. This proverb commands us to look past the facade. When you are looking for a man to hire, or a man for your daughter to marry, or a man to elect as an elder, what do you look for? Do you look for worldly success, charm, and influence? Or do you look for the quiet, unglamorous, rock-solid quality of a man who tells the truth, even when it costs him? Do you esteem the poor man who is honest over the rich man who is a fraud?
Third, this proverb exposes the lie of the prosperity gospel. The lie that financial success is the primary mark of God's favor. God says here that it is better to be poor and honest than rich and a liar. This means that a man's integrity is a far better indicator of his spiritual state than the size of his bank account. Godliness with contentment is great gain, but the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and it often grows best in the soil of falsehood.
The Gospel and the Man of Truth
Ultimately, this proverb points us to the only man who ever embodied hesed perfectly. Jesus Christ is the ultimate man of lovingkindness. He is the faithful and true witness (Rev. 3:14). His entire life was an act of covenant loyalty to His Father and to His people. He is the Word made flesh, the very embodiment of truth. He never once spoke a deceitful word. His "yes" was always "yes."
And what was the world's evaluation of this perfect man? He was "despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief" (Isaiah 53:3). He became poor, so that we by His poverty might become rich (2 Cor. 8:9). He possessed the ultimate desirable quality, perfect hesed, and yet He was stripped of everything, becoming the poorest of the poor on the cross.
He was surrounded by men of falsehood. The Pharisees, the Sadducees, Pilate, Herod, Judas. They were men of influence, wealth, and power, but they were all liars. And in the great divine evaluation, God preferred His poor, suffering, faithful Son over all the liars of the world. God vindicated His honest Son by raising Him from the dead, and He has seated Him at His right hand, far above all rule and authority.
When we come to Christ in faith, we are united to this Man of Truth. He forgives us for our own falsehoods, for every time we have been a liar. And He begins to work His own character, His own hesed, into us by the power of His Spirit. He makes us men and women of the truth. He calls us out of the kingdom of lies and into the kingdom of His marvelous light. Our salvation is a testament to this proverb. We were spiritually destitute, poorer than poor, but in Christ, we are made rich in the currency that matters: the steadfast, loyal, covenant-keeping love of God.
Therefore, let us desire what God desires. Let us honor the man of hesed, and let us be that man. Let us choose poverty with truth over riches with lies. For the man of falsehood has his reward in this life, and it is fleeting. But the man of lovingkindness has a reward that is eternal, for he is like his Lord.