Planning for tomorrow

“she [the forbidden woman] does not ponder the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it.”
-Proverbs 5:6

When I was not a Christian, my outlook on life really didn’t go much beyond the next weekend. I wasn’t what the world would call a bad person. Far from it. Most people considered me pretty good. But I wasn’t really thinking about how my choices would affect next week, or next year, or especially eternity.

Even the most careful planners miss that last one. They will concern themselves with retirement, with preventative health, with college funds for their children. They may even purchase a funeral plot so their families won’t have to. But when you talk about what happens after you die, even those people won’t give it much thought.

Have you thought about how your choices will affect eternity? Will the mistakes you make today be brought up on the day of judgment? Will there even BE a day of judgment? What standards will be used to judge us?

These are questions that should be foremost on everyone’s mind, because, frankly, our life is pretty short, and eternity is much, much longer.

But so often we don’t even think about next week, much less the next life. The adulterous woman in these verses is such an effective analogy for sin for just that reason. Like that relationship that lasts a moment but destroys your family forever, sin can destroy your eternity. We don’t think about that at time, do we? We do not ponder the paths of life and steer away from evil.

The truth is that there will be a judgment day. The truth is that God will judge us by our words, thoughts, and deeds. He will judge every moment of greed, of lust, of hatred, or selfishness, and of pride. It will all be laid before Him. We’re not going to be good enough to make it. We have all followed that forbidden woman of sin inside too many times, even if it was just in our minds. We will not be judged righteous before a just God.

There is only one way for us to be judged righteous, and that is through repentance and belief in Jesus. God came to earth in human form, lived a perfect life, and died upon a Cross. In that death He took upon Himself our sins and paid the price for them. In exchange, He will impute His righteousness to us, and we will be judged by His actions, not our own.

This path of life is worth the pondering. Far better to walk it. We have entertained sin quite often. We have been to that corner and spoken with her much. Yet by the love of God, we have a way to return to the path of life. We can walk it because He walked it first, and He will come and get you when you step off in weakness.