Proverbs 1:16: B-line to sin

“for their [sinners’] feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood.”
-Proverbs 1:16

This weekend I went to see Burn After Reading, which was a pretty interesting movie. There was one character, played by George Clooney, who was making a concerted effort throughout the film to sleep with anyone possible. He was married, and he had a girlfriend, and he was also on an online dating service to meet more women.

It was so ridiculous that it was funny, which I think was rather the point. He was an outrageous character, certainly, but outrageous in a rather realistic way.

We’ve probably all known someone like this, someone who just sprints toward any opportunity to do wrong.

Someone like me.

Look, I’ve never been a violent person, but you don’t have to strike someone to shed blood. All of sin sheds blood. Even if it is not in this life, blood will be shed.

Some of you may be very surprised that I say this. Why would being a little promiscuous cause bloodshed? Why would shoplifting something small cause bloodshed.

Our criminal justice system ascribes certain punishments for certain crimes. Frankly, it is a system set up by sinners who don’t expect any good to come from the bunch of sinners they govern. If we all got what we deserved, the politicians would probably be the first in line on the way out. This is a fallens system, and we do the best we can with it. God, on the other hand, is perfect, and if He is just (and He is very just), He has to punish wrongdoing properly.

The writer of Hebrews says it this way: “Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (9:22). Paul gives it to us much more succinctly: “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).

Perfection is the standard for life, and so any sin brings about the shedding of blood. All sin will be punished.

I really like what G. K. Chesterton says:

If it be true (as it certainly is) that a man can feel exquisite happiness in skinning a cat, then the religious philosopher can only draw one of two deductions. He must either deny the existence of God, as all atheists do; or he must deny the present union between God and man, as all Christians do. The new theologians seem to think it a highly rationalistic solution to deny the cat.

Whether or not we deny the cat, it remains true that we all, left to ourselves, are capable of terrible things. We are slaves to sin.

“I’m not a slave!” you may say. I will borrow from Mark Driscoll in answering, “Really? Then stop sinning and never sin again. Impossible, you say? That’s because you’re a slave.”

I may not have shed blood of another person, but I have earned my own death a thousand times over.

But here’s the good news. All sin will be punished, yes, but the punishment does not have to be taken out on you. When Christ died on the cross, He took on my sins and took the punishment so I don’t have to.

When I repented of my sins, I laid them upon Him, and He took the death that should have been mine. And then, He gave me His righteousness, freeing me from slavery to sin.

For the first time, my feet are not turned constantly toward sin. For the first time, when I run, I am running toward Him.

Because His blood was shed for me, my blood does not need to be spilt. God’s justice is satisfied, and His mercy shines through.

I ask you, dear reader, to repent of those old ways. None of us, save Jesus, can reach the standard of perfection. Only in following Him will we be able to stand before God blameless.