Where did lunch come from? (Part 2)

“For they [the wicked] eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.”
-Proverbs 4:17

We looked a little at this verse last time, but I wanted to suggest an alternative reading of it. And the more I think about it, the more I am convinced that Solomon had this in mind just as much as the interpretation we looked at in the last post.

There is something about people that we don’t really want to admit. We will deny it every chance we get, but that doesn’t mean it’s not true. It is this: there is a darkness in our hearts that is always seeking its own gain. We are driven by our own desires. The results of that drive are not always bad. Greed could drive us to go to work every day. Now, the greed is bad, but going to work isn’t.

Sometimes, our activities are not so good. Lust can drive us to pornography, premarital sex, or adultery. Pride will cause us to hold a grudge against someone over a very small slight. Ambition may drive us to sabotage a coworker.

We are enslaved by our lusts, pride, selfishness, greed, ambition, and hatred. They control us. Even when we are doing so-called “good things,” we are often doing them for recognition or reward.

The Bible tells us this frankly: “For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another” (Titus 3:3).

You can try, by sheer force of will, to stop sinning. You won’t be able to. The reason is very simple – you are a sinner, and sinners sin. It’s something we sinners seek out like bread or wine. We feast upon unrighteousness in our hearts, even if we put on a noble face for the crowd.

But listen to how Paul continues this thought:

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
-Titus 3:4-7

We may be sinners, but Jesus is not. We may seek unrighteousness like bread and wine, but He never did. He did not deserve death as we do, but in His death He took the punishment that should have been ours.

In repentance and belief, we are freed from the Law and given His righteousness. We don’t need to earn the love of God, for Jesus has earned it for us. Therefore we can stand before the Father without fear of His wrath, for we have been washed clean by His Blood.