Unjust Reward

Reading for Today: Proverb Chapter 17

Gold Nugget
Verse 13: “Whoever rewards evil for good, evil will not depart from his house.”
                                                                                                                             
Commentary
Back in 2011, I remember my impression of just how dangerous and violent a world we live in. After the deadly shooting in Tucson, Arizona the media was in frenzy over how this could have happened. Although the country has been in a moral decline for many years, we couldn't imagine how something like this could happen. To make matters worse, I don’t think we were reacting in a way that would spark any change. It was very disturbing to see that some people went to extents to make it a political issue of conservatives being negligent and somehow encouraging such behavior. Even more disturbing was a particular spokesperson claiming that the mental illness that led to the killings was no different than any other illness. She went on to say that early treatment would have prevented this tragedy. By the time she was done, some people were cheering her attempts to prove the current health care situation in place by republicans was to blame. In an attempt to push liberal views, she made this cold blooded killer into a victim. In that, she has exemplified today’s “gold nugget”. “Whoever rewards evil for good, evil will not depart from his house.”

Although there are some mental illnesses that should be treated just as any other sickness, there are some people that have issues of a spiritual nature. People that may be spiritually bankrupt should not be lumped in with those suffering from a serious physical ailment. Many times people have such an agenda of their own that they can overlook and even condone bad behavior if it somehow works in their favor. They will support or reward evil as if it is good or pure for their own personal gain. The example used in today’s devotion is one of extreme measure, but it shouldn't keep us from learning a valuable lesson for our own growth. We need to make sure that we don’t do anything to reward or encourage bad behavior. Although we surely wouldn't defend the person responsible for the story in today’s devotion, we don’t want to support, encourage or reward someone that did anything bad… even if on a smaller scale.

Prayer
Lord, sometimes we are in situations where we know someone has done wrong, but somehow there is a way that we can benefit from the scenario. Help us to resist the temptation to let something go that we should take a stand against.  Amen


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