Thursday 08 November 2007

Background

Does this passage make its contrast in much too stark andsimplistic terms? Here, as elsewhere in the book of Proverbs,people are described as being either 'wicked' or'upright/righteous'; does this ring true to our observations ofhuman character and behaviour?

There are saints around, people whose unselfish living and love ofGod put us to shame. And there are some people who seem not to havea single good quality and who do serious harm to others. But mostpeople are a mixture of good and bad, behaving well on someoccasions and not so well on others. If we are any good at readingour own lives we will know this is how we are.

The writer of Proverbs would no doubt have acknowledged the truthof this too. But he wants us to recognise the importance of choice.He knows how easy it is for us to shrug our shoulders and say,"Well, that's how I am. It can't be helped".

Well, sometimes it can't, but often it can, and Proverbs points usto this important fact. To pursue righteousnessis to actively seek to discern and follow God's way in our dailyconduct. Repentance is not just feeling sorry for our bad conduct;it is about acting differently in the future.

The writer of Proverbs encourages us to make that choice not justonce in our lives, but all the time. And, he goes on to say, wemake the choice effective when we are willing to be instructed byGod's wisdom.

To Ponder

How, as a society, do we judge between good andevil behaviour when there are competing moral codes?

Think of one way you can pursue righteousness byactively discerning and following God's way in your daily conduct.Try to put that into action in the next few days.