Quick Note – Proverbs 12:12 – Stop Longing for This World’s Success

Proverbs 12:12 – “Whoever is wicked covets the spoil of evildoers, but the root of the righteous bears fruit.”

In my daily reading of the Bible right now, I am in the book of Proverbs, so my schedule tells me to read two to three chapters of the book a day.  I always find this book hard to read in chunks, like multiple chapters at a time, because it is so dense with lesson after lesson.  In most chapters, each verse has a very different thing to teach, so I often feel like I am having information overload when I read it.  Honestly, I think it is better to read the book of Proverbs a few verses a day, so that you can get a good lesson to think of throughout the day but not so much that you overlook something important.  But I digress.  The beautiful thing about the book of Proverbs though is that most verses are easy to understand but pack a strong spiritual punch.  Our passage today is one of those verses.  And I would like to take a few moments to share that with you today.  Again, since it is so self-explanatory, I won’t spend much time describing it.  I just want to bring that verse to your attention.

Our passage today is Proverbs 12:12.  This short but simple proverb hit me like a brick, because I never thought it was wrong to covet the success of those who do wrong.  I figured that as long as I don’t do what they do and continue to follow Christ, there was nothing wrong with my longing to have what they have.  But this proverb says something different.  It describes those who covet the success of evildoers as wicked.  I am considered wicked for coveting their success.  When I watched TV and coveted the money that they made, when I read the tabloids and coveted their fame, when I heard about their accomplishments and coveted their success, I was sinning.  Who would have thought?  This made little sense to me, but when I meditated on this verse, I began to understand why it said that.  God wants us to long for and desire Him, not the things of this world.  When evildoers succeed, they obtain worldly temporary pleasures that fade not heavenly treasures that last for eternity.  Matthew 6:19-21 tells us that we should be storing up treasures in heaven not earth, where moth and rust can destroy and where thieves can break in and steal.  That is why coveting the spoil of evildoers is considered wicked, because our eyes are not on God but on the things of this earth.  Let us stop longing for the temporary pleasures of this earth but for our eternal loving God and Father.

Quick Note – 2 Corinthians 5:14-21 – The Four New P’s in Christ

2 Corinthians 5:14-21 – “14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. 16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.[b] The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling[c] the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

I could probably write a long message about what I want to share with you today, but I think I will save that for another time, when I will be preaching at church (so look forward to that in the future).  Instead, I just want to quickly share with you some key points from this passage in 2 Corinthians 5 that remind us that our lives change drastically when we come to know Christ.  I will share it with you in four key points, which I call the “Four P’s” that change when Christ comes into your life.

A New Purpose (vs. 14-15)

Without Christ in our lives, we have no other reason for living than to make ourselves happy.  No matter what culture you were raised in or what nation you were born in, the single purpose of man or woman according to this world is to seek their own ultimate happiness.  But even if a person managed to achieve every goal he or she set out for him or herself, they only find out that they are never truly happy.  Something is always missing.  Life always seems to be without purpose.  That is why when Rick Warren released the book The Purpose Driven Life, it became a national, and likely international, best seller.  But in vs. 14-15 of our passage, we find that when we come to know Christ, we find a new purpose for ourselves, one that is not focused on us but on Someone greater – Jesus Christ.  We are told that Jesus Christ died for our sins so that we would not live for ourselves but for “Him who for their sake died and was raised.”  When we come to know Christ, we gain a new purpose – to bring honor and glory to God.  It is only by living in that way do we find true fulfillment in life, for we will be doing what we were created to do.  When we receive Him into our lives, His love fills our hearts and drives us to love Him and serve Him.  We find a new purpose in Christ.

A New Perspective (vs. 16)

Before we came to know Christ, our view of God and others was limited.  We could barely grasp what was meant in His Word, and at best, could only see the Bible as a beautiful piece of literature.  The idea of God sending His Son to die for our sins seemed but foolishness, and to think that He could rise from the dead was utter ridiculousness.  We could not understand who God is, because our eyes were blinded towards Him.  We could only see Him as a mythological fairy tale invented by man.  But when Christ came into our hearts, He performed cataract surgery on our eyes.  He removed the veil that was blinding our view of Him and allowed us to see Him in a whole new light – in a whole new perspective.  We began to see the truth, when we stopped seeing and regarding Him according to the flesh, and started to see Him through the Spirit.  For the Holy Spirit came into our lives and helped us to understand and know Him.  This then changed our perspective on the world and others as well, for it allowed us to see them not as just random strangers but as people loved by Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, as people who we should love as well.  God came to open the eyes of the blind, and just as He removed the scales from the eyes of Paul in Acts 9, He has also removed ours.  We find a new perspective in Christ.

A New Person (vs. 17)

2 Corinthians 5:17 is one of the most quoted verses in the Bible, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”  This is often quoted to remind Christians that they should turn away from their sins and live a new pure life in Christ.  And though we may often want to, it is impossible to argue the simple truth found in this verse – when we come to know Christ, we become a new creation.  All of our old habits, all of our old desires, all of our sinful flesh should be tossed away and replaced by this new person – this person that loves God and seeks to please Him, this person that reflects our Lord Jesus Christ.  We often hear of people turning over a new leaf after suffering some traumatic life-changing incident, but as Christians, we don’t just turn over a leaf, we transform into a whole new tree.  Stop living in your past sins, instead allow the new life that you have in Christ to spring out from you.  Christ lives and dwells in our hearts, changing us to be more and more like Him.  We find a new person in Christ.

A New Profession (vs. 18-21)

Finally, in Christ, we find a new profession.  This “P” is tied into the first “P” of finding a new purpose in Him.  Before coming to know Christ, like everyone else in this world, we were separated from God.  We had a broken relationship with Him that could not be reconciled due to our sins.  But God wanting to repair that relationship sent His only begotten Son to die for us.  “He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”  The Heavenly Father allowed His Son to take our punishment in our place so that we could be considered righteous before Him.  In order to pay a debt we could not pay, He had His Son, the only One who could pay it, pay it for us.  Through the sacrifice of His Son, He reconciled the world, and more specifically us, to Himself. And being that we have experienced this reconciled relationship, He has called us to follow His example in this ministry of reconciliation.  Jesus Christ has entrusted every believer with the message of reconciliation to be shared with the world.  We are His ambassadors to the world, sharing this Gospel with all who are around us.  This is our new profession.  This is our new job.  To be ambassadors for Christ.  To share the Gospel.  To share this message of reconciliation.  We find a new profession in Christ.

To sum it up, we find four new “P’s” in Christ – a new purpose, a new perspective, a new person, and a new profession.  When Christ entered our hearts, He changed us and made us new – replacing our corruptible flesh with His incorruptible glory.  Let us live out these new “P’s” daily.