Righteousness guards him whose way is blameless,
but sin overthrows the wicked.
Proverbs 13:6
Be blameless and righteousness will guard you. Be wicked (blameworthy), and your own sin will overthrow you. Safety and destruction hang in the balance.
What malady in your life, family, company, church, community can be traced back to you? What’s in your heart causing these troubles to grow into your life and the lives of those around you?
Here’s the trend: Where we lack the fruit of the Spirit* we find the works of the flesh**. Where this is the case, trouble climbs out of our lives like a vine and wraps around everyone and everything around us-and we’re to blame. What’s the solution? We need to delight in God’s word and meditate on it day and night like Psalm 1 teaches. Then the vine dries up and falls to the ground as good fruit grows in its place. We’ll enjoy the protection of righteousness rather than the betrayal of our own wickedness.
So, as always, the first step is to open our Bibles and read.
*Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control and such things. (Galatians 5:22-23)
**Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. (Galatians 5:19-21)
