Proverbs 6:12-15

¹² A worthless person, a wicked man,
Is the one who walks with a perverse mouth,
¹³ Who winks with his eyes, who ^[f]signals with his feet,
Who ^[g]points with his fingers;
¹⁴ Who with perversity in his heart continually devises evil,
Who ^[h]spreads strife.
¹⁵ Therefore his calamity will come suddenly;
Instantly he will be broken and there will be no healing.

These four verses are speaking of a malicious man- one that plots evil and intends to do harm.   I am remembering a job I had in which the owner of the company was extremely dishonest.   So much so, that I did not go back after we had our first child.  I remember thinking that right always wins, and the light always extinguished the dark.  In short, I watched and waited for him to “get his” – to get what was coming to him.  To this day to the best of my knowledge – the company is thriving under his, continued, leadership. Calamity doesn’t always “come suddenly”, it seems.

I don’t know that he was wicked, but greedy and manipulative would seem to fit his character.  These passages refer to one who is godless and wicked. I think a lot of character issues aren’t, necessarily, evil.  They do fall short of the glory of God, as we all do.  It is a balancing act of my heart, that I am always being called to.  It is so easy to judge and to condemn and to plot evil against others in my own heart…and now who is the one with character deficiencies?

So what do we do with those that we are not in character agreement with? Those that make bad choices, but are not staked against God….I think we can not compromise our standing with the Lord and must keep our feet on the right path.  Then, I think we pray for those that are struggling with bad decisions, keeping judgement out of our prayers. I also think we are called to hold each other accountable if we are all believers. How many times do we shake our heads in disbelief and judgement, but not confront the person, in love and with the spirit of Truth and grace?   Prayers and accountability are HUGE responsibilities within the Bride of Christ!!

What about those that are wicked, truly, that have staked themselves against God and His church?  It is interesting that the word “calamity” here is : Ad, meaning the “burden of the righteous”.  The burden of the righteous will come quickly and he will be broken with no healing. This pains my heart, because I know that our God wishes to welcome all of His children home –but,....... the wages of sin are death.

As our world slips into more wicked ways by the moment, second by second, it seems that decisions are being cast that are simply – ungodly.  We must gather togeteher as the Bride and unite in the Spirit of truth, grace and mercy. The wicked will plot and scheme for the lambs that are scattered outside of the fold. It is our job to make disciples of nations. It is our job to get out of our churches and out of our comfort zones and reach His lambs.

What does that look like for you?  How do you get out of your comfort zone to reach the lost, confused and poor in spirit? Our world is in dire need of truth and the reckless love of our Savior.  I issue a challenge today…will you share with all of us how you loved the world today? Love does…it doenst think and ponder and dream and wait – it JUST DOES> How have you loved on someone today?