PROVERBS: TAKING THE LONG VIEW OF SIN
by Ivan Maddox
Atlanta, GA


Some time ago, Nancy Reagan came up with a slogan for young people being confronted with illegal drugs: "Just say no!" The slogan sounded simplistic and unrealistic. Nevertheless, it did emphasize the point that each individual is responsible for his or her own decisions, and for the results or consequences that follow.

In Proverbs 1, we are given a word of instruction that sounds very much like that "Just say no!" slogan.

Proverbs 1:10.
10 ¶ My son, if sinners entice you, do not give in to them.

So, is that it? "Just say no" to sin? While that is, indeed the bottom line, there's more to it than that. What we're being warned to do is look beyond the surface of the enticement offered by sin, and look at the long term results before making a decision.

Temptation wouldn't be temptation if there weren't something attractive about it. Listen to the next few verses. They could have been written today, about an invitation to join a street gang.

Proverbs 1:11-15.
11 If they say, "Come along with us; let's lie in wait for someone's blood, let's waylay some harmless soul;
12 let's swallow them alive, like the grave, and whole, like those who go down to the pit;
13 we will get all sorts of valuable things and fill our houses with plunder;
14 throw in your lot with us, and we will share a common purse"--
15 my son, do not go along with them, do not set foot on their paths;

Notice how the benefits of this proposition are emphasized, while the dangers are minimized. Here is an opportunity for maximum profit in a minimum of time at minimum risk. How can you lose? We'll arm ourselves and only attack unarmed people. We won't hesitate to kill to get what we want. Success is guaranteed. Or is it?

The book of James warns us that we fall to temptation when we allow ourselves to be led away and enticed by our own desires.

James 1:13-15.
13 ¶ When tempted, no-one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;
14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.
15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

We are snared by temptation because we desire what is offered by it, and are snared when we "go for it." This passage makes it very clear that the desire itself is not sin. However, that desire, if left to grow unchecked, will eventually give birth to sin.

Sin at the beginning is usually pleasant; but what is the end result? James warns us that if we allow sin to grow to maturity in our lives, it will result in death.

This is the same thing we are warned about in Proverbs.

Proverbs 1:15-19.
15 my son, do not go along with them, do not set foot on their paths;
16 for their feet rush into sin, they are swift to shed blood.
17 How useless to spread a net in full view of all the birds!
18 These men lie in wait for their own blood; they waylay only themselves!
19 Such is the end of all who go after ill-gotten gain; it takes away the lives of those who get it.

Here the warning is about violent crime. Those who are quick to sin, and quick to shed blood, are laying a trap for themselves. Even a bird has sense enough to avoid a trap it can see. But These men are setting a trap for themselves -- then falling in! The problem is that they think they’re setting the trap for someone else, while they themselves are targets.

This is something that’s easy to see if we look at something like gang or drug-related violence. Those who are involved are lured by the promise of fast money and prestige from their peers. They plot and plot against others; yet it is clear from the outside that it is their own lives they are all too often cutting short.

But James makes it clear that what is so evident in relation to violent crime is true in the end of all sin. The end result of unchecked sin is death.

If there were a truth in advertising law for sin, if we could see it for what it is, and its long term results for what they really are, we would find sin a whole lot less attractive. But all too often we are like the aspiring drug user who focuses his attention on the promise of an exciting “high,” ignoring the reality of addiction, broken dreams and death. If he were thinking clearly, he would shrink back in horror. But all he can see is the short term benefit; so for a moment’s pleasure he does something he will pay for for a lifetime.

The to us here in Proverbs is, do not be deceived by the short-term benefits of disobeying God. All sin, left unchecked results in death. Violent sin does the job much faster.

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Created 6/15/97, by Ivan Maddox