Proverbs 1:19: You only have yourself to blame

“Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain; it takes away the life of its possessors.”
-Proverbs 1:19

Have you ever really noticed the way young students talk, especially in the high school years? Think about it. How often have we heard the following two phrases: “I got an A!” “The teacher failed me!”

Did you notice the difference? In the former example, the student earned something great. In the latter, the teacher was the one at work, giving the failing grade.

It’s almost never the other way around. Very rarely will you hear anyone say that the teacher gave him an A, while he earned an F.

In truth, if a high school student fails, it’s almost always because that’s exactly what he earned. This is especially true now, since high school teachers are told to do whatever is in their power to make sure everyone passes.

But we, as people, are big on excuses. If you boss calls you in to praise you for a project, it’s usually only with false modesty that you will mention your coworkers, if you mention them at all. Meanwhile, if he calls you in to tell you how much you messed the project up, then all of a sudden your coworkers’ names are coming up a lot.

We come by it honestly (if that phrase is at all appropriate here). We’ve been making excuses since the third chapter of Genesis. When Adam and Eve sin, and God asks them about it, what do they do? Adam blames both Eve and God, and Eve blames the serpent.

We’ve been perfecting the practice ever since.

In the latest few verses of Proverbs, we’ve been looking at the results of sin. Solomon is telling us here that the paths of sin look very nice, but they lead to death. In this verse, he emphasizes the point by making it a universal truth. This happens to “everyone who is greedy for unjust gain.”

And let’s not pretend that we are only speaking of thieves here. Notice that he is speaking of a motive here, not an action. Do you desire those things that don’t belong to you and that you didn’t earn, whether money, things, women, men, a position at work? Even if you don’t act upon it, this verse is talking about you.

I know there are some people reading this that are ready to bail on me now. Motives? Am I expecting everyone to be perfect in motive?

Yep.

You see, Jesus tells us that morality can be summed up in two rules: Love God completely, and love others. Any time you’re not doing that, you are sinning. The wages of sin are death. It’s not enough to not kill someone; if you are angry with that person without cause, you’re still a murderer. You’ve earned eternal death (check out Matthew 5:21-22).

So if even bad motives earn death, then is there a way out? Because no one I know has perfect motives.

Yes, because that is why Jesus died. Your sins deserve death, but Jesus was without sin, and He died anyway. Because He did that, He is able to take your sins upon Himself and pay the price you were meant to pay. If you turn away from your greedy, lustful, prideful ways and submit to Him, you will find life.