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.