Proverbs 23:17-18 "Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the Lord all the day. Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.” Today's episode talks about why we shouldn't envy sinners and it talks about what it means to fear the Lord. It talks about what we are called to do and it talks about the Joy of the Lord. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Do Sinners Really Have More Fun?
Proverbs 23:17-18 "Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the Lord all the day. Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.”
When I read this verse this morning I knew the Lord was talking to me, as it talks about fearing the Lord again and I mentioned yesterday how I usually stay away from those verses because I think we often misunderstand what it means to Fear the Lord. Yesterday I talked about a Deuteronomy 10:12-13 which said that Fear of the Lord meant to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees. Fearing the Lord is inextricably tied to loving, serving, and holding fast to the Lord in response to all the wonderful and gracious things he has done for us (Deut. 10:20; 1 Sam 12:24).This statement is from the article I talked about yesterday. CLICK HERE for the article.
Today’s verse says to not let your heart envy sinners. This can be hard. If our hearts are in love with this world and with worldly things it can be easy to envy sinners. It can seem, by worldly standards that sinners have more fun. It even says this in that Billy Joel Song “Only The Good Die Young.” The song says: “And they say there's a heaven for those who will wait, some say it's better, but I say it ain’t. I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints. The sinners are much more fun.” I know this is just a song and yet it shows the sentiment of many people. It is certainly the sentiment of my kids, and many other kids. They don’t want to be in church, they don’t want to be living the life that God wants us to live. They believe it is much more fun to do whatever you want to do. I mean, who wants to be told what they have to do and yet if they only knew where the consequences, the eternal consequences of their actions, I wonder if their choices would be different.
This world tends to look down upon Christians. They don’t understand why we believe in “this imaginary person that lives in the sky” or as one of my kids is fond of saying, “a hippie that lives in the clouds.” The world doesn’t understand why we believe the things we believe and therefore it rejects those things. We live in a world that wants to do whatever it wants to do. We live in a world that wants to believe whatever it wants to believe. They fight for the right to live however they want to live and yet want to take away the rights for Christians to believe what they believe. We live in a world where everyone is accepted, all beliefs are accepted, except those of Christians.
I believe it is hard to be a good Christian. I believe we are called to a higher standard. We are called to be the face of Christ to others and that is a tall order. Christ loved everyone, He was kind to everyone, He did not judge others even though He was God and had the authority to judge others. Jesus helped those in need. He gave to the poor, fed the hungry, healed the sick. We have big shoes to fill and we are all called to fill those shoes. Not just some of us, but each and every one of us is called to be the face of Christ to others. We are called to live an upright life. Romans 13 is a great chapter to read if you are wondering about how we are being called to live. I am just going to read Romans 13:13-14 which says, “Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.”
I can see how we could look at those who get drunk or those who are being promiscuous and be jealous. Things always look greener on the other side of the fence. When you are at a bar and you see someone who is drunk it may appear that they are having more fun. However, that is a few hours of their time. What about when they sober up and realize all the things they have done? What about when they lose their job, their family, the home because all they do is drink? What about when they are living on the streets because they lost everything? Would you still be envious of them? What about someone who is sleeping around? Maybe you have a friend that is not in a committed relationship and is dating lots of people and is having sex with most of them. They seem to be having a good time and you might be a little jealous. It may seem like they are having a good time but what about when they start to feel like they are just being used for sex. What about when they start to wonder if anyone will ever love them? Would you still be envious of them?
We only see what things look like on the outside. We don’t see the after math of other people’s decisions and we don’t know how they feel or what they are thinking. We tend to think they are happy and yet that is often not the case. They do not have the joy that we can have when we are following the Lord and His ways. Joy of the Lord is something that does not compare with anything else. Happiness is fleeting and it is something anyone can obtain for a moment, or for a short period of time when things are going well in their lives. However, when things aren’t going well, they loose that happiness. Joy, true joy that comes from the Lord, is something you can always have. I am not always happy and yet I can always feel the Joy from the Lord. I can be in the middle of a really hard time, I can be going through something really difficult, like right now with my son in the hospital, and yet I can still be filled with joy. The joy is not based on my circumstances it is based on my love and hope in the Lord. Joy is a decision one makes and it is also a gift from the Holy Spirit.
When we are living the life God wants us to live we will be filled with joy. When we stop being envious of sinners and realize how amazing it is living a life with Christ we will be the ones that people envy. When I think of the people that I envy the most, it is those who are the face of Christ to others. Those who are kind to everyone, those who give to the poor, even when they don't have much themselves. I envy those who prioritize prayer time and their spiritual life over their social life. You know the people I am talking about. I bet if you made a list of the people you really envied, or those you look up to anyway, they wouldn’t be the sinners in your life.
The verse above tells us to, “Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the Lord all the day. Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.” Today we learned that “Fearing the Lord is inextricably tied to loving, serving, and holding fast to the Lord in response to all the wonderful and gracious things he has done for us (Deut. 10:20; 1 Sam 12:24)." So if we are not going to let our heart envy sinners and we are going continue to fear the Lord, what does that look like? According to Deuteronomy and first Samuel it means we are loving, serving and holding fast to the Lord because of all the wonderful things He has done for us. Are we doing this? Are we loving the Lord and thanking Him for all that He has done for us? Are we serving the Lord? What are we doing to serve the Lord? I bet you are doing more than you think you are doing. Are you praying for those in need? That is serving the Lord. Are you participating in Mass? That is serving the Lord?
This verse is not necessarily telling us something new, we are probably already doing the things we are called to do. It is a great reminder though. I think we probably all have those moments when we might envy a sinner because it looks like they are having more fun. This verse is a great reminder of why we shouldn’t do that and what would be a better use of our time. Next time you feel like you want to envy a sinner, say a prayer for them instead. Pray they find the joy in the Lord that is available for all who live their life with Jesus Christ.
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to the episode today. Lord we love you and we love following you. We love our life in Christ and we wouldn’t change it for the world. Help us to continually turn our hearts back to you. Fill us with the Joy that only you can give us Lord. We love you and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. It really is great to know I am not on this journey alone. I look forward to seeing you all on Monday. Remember Jesus loves you and so do I! Have a blessed day.