Friday, December 11, 2015

Proverbs 28: Crime Does Not Pay

With all the teachings against wickedness and foolishness we find in Proverbs, you may wonder why anyone would ever choose to go down that path.  There are so many warnings against evil, why do people still sin?  Proverbs says that even though the wicked may prosper for a time, they will find out that, in the end, crime does not pay.

"Better to be poor and walk in integrity than to be crooked in one's ways even though rich" (vs. 6).  Don't we admire stories of those who preserve their integrity rather than capitulate to corruption in order to get ahead?  We see traces of this praiseworthy decision in characters like George Bailey being tempted by a job offer from Old Man Potter in It's a Wonderful Life, or Javier Martinez refusing to falsify records in order to receive a promotion in Courageous. That's what makes people like these heroes. We are attracted to the incorruptible, the untouchable.

Still, people can face an economic loss when they make a moral choice.  We might wonder: Is it really worth it?  Why is it preferable to cling to integrity rather than go in for easy ill-gotten gains?  Other proverbs help supply the answer:

"When one will not listen to the law, even one's prayers are an abomination.  Those who mislead the upright into evil ways will fall into pits of their own making, but the blameless will have a goodly inheritance" (vs. 9-10).  God sorts things out.  Those who plot evil find that sin separates them from their Creator.  Their prayers are hindered.  But, when reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, the blameless have an eternal inheritance that is beyond the reach of any evildoers in this world.

As we understand Proverbs to be a word to the younger generation from the older, it only makes sense that we would hear this word of wisdom passed down, as it still is today: Crime does not pay.

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