Do Not Envy Evil

It is totally natural. We look around and see ‘everyone but us’ enjoying life. We are struggling to keep the fast of Great Lent and attend extra church services while our friends are going to parties and living it up. We feel like oddballs among our friends, and sometimes even family. Great Lent will be over ‘soon enough’ but we’re playing the long game, not the short run.

My son, if your heart becomes wise, you will also gladden my heart; and your lips shall spend time with the words on my lips, if they be upright. Do not let your heart envy sinners, but be in fear of the Lord the whole day long. For if you keep these words, you shall have offspring, and your hope will not depart from you. Hear, my son, and become wise, and direct aright the thoughts of your heart. Do not be a wine-bibber, neither provide contributions of meats or goods at drinking parties. For every drunkard and fornicator shall become impoverished, and every sluggard shall clothe himself with tattered and ragged garments. Hear, my son, your father who begot you, and do not despise your mother because she has grown old. A righteous father rears his child well, and his soul rejoices in a wise son. Let your father and mother be glad in you, and let her who bore you rejoice. My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways; for a house of prostitution is a pierced vessel and a strange and empty well; for he shall perish suddenly, and every lawless man shall be destroyed. Who has woe? Who has tumult? Who has condemnation? Who has unpleasantness and gossip? Who has afflictions with no purpose? Whose eyes are pale? Is it not those who linger long with wines? Is it not those who hunt for the whereabouts of drinking parties? Do not be drunk with wine, but keep company with righteous men, and keep company in public walks; for if you set your eyes to the bowls and cups, afterward you will walk about more naked than ground meat. And at last, he stretches himself out as one bitten by a serpent, and the venom spreads through him as one bitten by a horned serpent. When your eyes behold a strange woman, then your mouth will speak twisted things; and you will lie down as in the heart of the sea and as a pilot in a great storm; and you will say, “They beat me, but I did not suffer, and they mocked me, but I knew it not; when will it be morning, that I may go seek those with whom I may company?” My son, do not envy evil men, neither desire to be with them; for their heart ponders a lie, and their lips speak of sufferings. A house is built with wisdom, and it is built up with understanding. Storehouses are filled with perception from all honorable and good riches. It is better to be a wise man of strength and a man having discernment, than to be a man who has a large estate.

Proverbs 23:15-24:5

Today’s Wisdom from Proverbs is nothing we don’t already know. We all know how a life of living it up at parties ends up. We’ve seen it a thousand times. We have seen, or maybe even experienced, how a life of loose living end in rejection and loneliness. So why do we envy them?

We have also seen ‘that little old lady’ in the Church every day who hasn’t a care in the world. She doesn’t attend endless parties, but she celebrates her family. She doesn’t spend the ‘night out’ but is often awake late saying her prayers. She has peace. Why don’t we envy her?

Living a righteous life, as God desires for us, isn’t a life destined for boredom.  There is joy and peace when hope ‘sets up shop’ in our heart. There is no hope in sin. I have met countless people who can verify every word of today’s reading. I have met them and witnessed their pain.

I do not envy their pain. I envy their repentance. For the one who has found peace in repentance, even through the struggle of prayer and fasting, is a light in the darkness. I am inspired by those who testify to the pain of chasing ‘the fast life’ only finding peace in prayer.

You don’t have to look very far to find the pain of sin and evil. Look in the mirror. We all have a past. We all have pain, but today is our chance to step away from the pain. Today is our day to envy righteousness instead of evil. Today is the first day of the rest of our lives in Christ.

Tomorrow is the final day of Great Lent. Holy Week is coming as our chance to step away from evil and sin. Instead of waiting for Holy Week, start today. Envy righteousness instead of evil, and you will find peace and hope.