A person is praised according to their prudence, and one with a warped mind is despised. . . . Let someone else praise you, and not your own mouth; an outsider, and not your own lips. (12:8, 27:2)
PRAISE. Self-praise from your own mouth almost always backfires. It makes others less willing to give you credit. “Pride . . . is his own trumpet,” writes Shakespeare, “and whatever praised itself but in the deed, devours the deed in the praise.”115 And yet, as 27:2 implies and as 12:8 states, faith communities should find ways of regularly praising and appreciating one another, since we do need genuine, truthful praise. 31:10–31 gives us the words of a husband delighting to praise his wife in detail for her virtues.
The church should be the place where people praise one another and not ourselves. The honor we have in Christ (Ephesians 1:19; John 17:23, cf. John 12:43) means that we cease to worry about how much attention we are getting from others and can devote ourselves to building up those around us (Romans 12:10). “Only God’s praise [in Christ] cannot be angled for and cannot corrupt.”116 If we are assured in the gospel that we have the acclaim and delight of God through Christ, then we won’t be constantly hungry for praise, we won’t resent when it is not there, and we won’t be puffed up by it when it comes. And we can be generous with it—the humblest people praise others the most.117
Are you quick to praise and affirm others? Ask someone you know well if you are good at it.
Prayer: Lord, it is astounding that while I myself am a sinner, in Christ I actually receive your praise and delight (Romans 2:29; Zephaniah 3:17). Let that be sufficient to my soul, so that I readily thank and praise others. Amen.
The Seven Deadly Sins: Gluttony
May 23
When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers. . . . Whoever loves pleasure will become poor; whoever loves wine and olive oil will never be rich. . . . The wise store up choice food and olive oil, but fools gulp theirs down. (21:15,17,20)
PLEASURE LOVING. Wine and olive oil were consumed at feasts and were a great good (Psalm 104:15). But when the love of pleasurable physical sensation dominates, it is the deadly sin of “gluttony.” Today this word means only overeating, but traditionally it meant the inability to live a life of delayed gratification. “Gluttony offers a whirl of dancing, dining, sports, and dashing very fast from place to place to gape at beauty-spots.”118 Gluttony may lead to literal addictions to food, drink, or drugs, to gulping them down, but even if it does not, the spirit of gluttony is always to take the easy way out.
The wise find their joy in justice rather than in sensual pleasure (21:15). Indeed, doing justice often involves the sacrifice of one’s comforts and pleasure. For example, to give generously to the poor deprives you of wealth, which can bring physical comforts. But there is a deeper joy that is the by-product of deprivations for the sake of God and neighbor. The great mistake of gluttony is to seek happiness directly rather than as a by-product of living responsibly. “The pleasure-lover strikes out towards joy itself, and finds poverty (17).”119
Give examples of how the sacrifice of immediate pleasure leads to a greater satisfaction and happiness.
Prayer: Lord, there has never been a society like mine, where the powerful forces of the media, marketing, and culture urge me to gratify my desires for comfort and pleasure. You died with only one possession—your robe. Oh, make me wise here, neither legalistically enjoying hardship for its own sake nor avoiding it. Amen.
May 24
Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine. . . . Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise. (3:9–10, 20:1)
DRINKING. Proverbs calls wine a mocker. Intoxication humiliates and ruins. Proverbs warns against inebriation, a state in which the safeguards of self-control are removed. An overdependence on alcohol for facing the stresses of life can lead to economic insecurity (21:17, 23:19–21) or to acts of abuse and injustice (31:4–5). And yet, as 3:9–10 shows, Proverbs does not necessarily counsel abstinence, for wine is also seen as a good gift (Genesis 27:28; Deuteronomy 14:26). Jesus himself made wine one of the two elements in the Lord’s Supper (Matthew 26:27–29).
Yet when leaders are making crucial decisions (31:4–5) or believers are taking specific vows to God (Numbers 6:3), wine and beer are prohibited. The wise person recognizes that “these two aspects of wine . . . its benefits and its curse, its acceptance in God’s sight and its abhorrence, are interwoven into the fabric of the Old Testament, so that it may gladden the heart of man (Psalm 104:15) and [also] cause his mind to err (Proverbs 28:7).”120
Do you have the “appreciative ambivalence” of Proverbs toward alcoholic drinks? What measures are you taking to avoid their dangers?
Prayer: Lord, so many things are neither bad nor good but to be used with discretion. It is wisdom to know what they are and how to use them wisely. Failure to discern has ruined many lives. Protect me and my loved ones from foolishness in regard to food and drink. Amen.
May 25
Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? Those who linger over wine, who go to sample bowls of mixed wine. Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly! In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper. Your eyes will see strange sights, and your mind will imagine confusing things. You will be like one sleeping on the high seas, lying on top of the rigging. “They hit me,” you will say, “but I’m not hurt! They beat me, but I don’t feel it! When will I wake up so I can find another drink?” (23:29–35)
ROCK BOTTOM. The drunk is a staple of comedies. “They hit me . . . but I’m not hurt! They beat me, but I don’t feel it!” But addiction is a tragedy. The delirium tremens (23:33), the injuries from falls and fights (23:29) are depicted here in sad detail. All addicts start with just one drink, so how can any drinker avoid the trap?
When wine becomes more than a good food but something one gazes at and lingers over for its qualities, it has become almost sexual in its allure. Drink (or any other food) can become a deep consolation, a way to find relief from anxiety. The insatiable need sharpens over time, but the addict is helpless. “When will I wake up so I can find another drink?” Overcoming addiction is never simple and takes a lifetime. But St. Paul was right when he pointed to the ultimate consolation we need. “Do not get drunk on wine. . . . Instead be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). Being filled with the Spirit means seeing Christ vividly and joyfully (John 15:26, 16:14). That is the joy that makes it possible to cast other consolations aside.
Addiction can take many forms. What do you do to handle stress, anxiety, and unhappiness?
Prayer: Lord, let me take my woes and sorrows to you—not to food and drink, not to sexual release, not to video games, not to late-night viewing. “Here of life the fountain flows; here is balm for all our woes.”121 Amen.
The Seven Deadly Sins: Sloth
May 26
The craving of a sluggard will be the death of him, because his hands refuse to work. All day long he craves for more, but the righteous give without sparing. (21:25–26)
SLOTH DOESN’T LOVE THINGS. Lazy people have inordinate cravings for ease, rest, and comfort.122 Ironically, lazy people live dissatisfied lives because they are not dissatisfied with their lives enough. Dorothy Sayers defines “sloth” as “the sin which believes in nothing, cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing, interferes with nothing, enjoys nothing, loves nothing, hates nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing, and only remains alive because there is nothing it would die for.”123
Lazy people do not love life enough to work hard to enjoy more of it, and they don’t love people enough to work hard so they can—as the righteous can—give without sparing (21:26). To remedy sloth, look to “Je
sus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2). He endured crushing burdens with joy, because he loved us enough to save us. Now love him enough to do the work before you.
Do you work only out of a sense of duty or in order to gain and serve things you love? How could a change in your motives change the way you work?
Prayer: Lord, give me the right motives to ask for what I am about to ask. Let me make enough and have enough to “give without sparing” to many people. Amen.
May 27
The lazy do not roast any game, but the diligent feed on the riches of the hunt. . . . A sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he will not even bring it back to his mouth! (12:27, 19:24)
SLOTH DOESN’T FINISH THINGS. When we think of a lazy person, we think of someone who doesn’t start things. But there is also a kind of person who is always making plans and always starting but never finishing any project. They don’t stay at jobs long, and they always blame the job itself rather than their own lack of stick-to-it-iveness. Either they lose interest because of a lack of inner passion for anything (May 26) or they have failed to count the cost and so find themselves overwhelmed.
And so the sluggard fails to bag his quarry (12:27). His meal goes cold on him before he can get to it (19:24). If you are someone who doesn’t finish things, remember the one who loved you to the very end (John 13:1) and did not give up until he was able to say, “It is finished” (John 19:30).
Is there a project you have not been able to finish? Stir up your love for the people who would benefit from it, look to the “finisher” of our faith (Hebrews 12:2 KJV), and finish it.
Prayer: Lord, indeed, “having loved [your] own . . . [you] loved them to the end” (John 13:1). Now make me like you, Lord Jesus. Make me someone who does what I promise and finishes what I start. Amen.
May 28
A sluggard says, “There’s a lion in the road, a fierce lion roaming the streets!” As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on his bed. A sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth. A sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven people who answer discreetly. (26:13–16)
SLOTH DOESN’T FACE THINGS. This portrait of the slothful is a satire. They exaggerate the danger of doing things—“There may be a lion in the road!” They are as tightly attached to their leisure as a door to its hinges. The effort of eating exhausts them too much to finish.
But the theme running through all this is a tragic blindness. These verses paint the sluggard’s features in such broad strokes in order to make the point that he is completely unable to see them. “He is not a shirker but a ‘realist’ ([Proverbs 26:]13); not self-indulgent but ‘below his best in the morning’ (14); his inertia is ‘an objection to being hustled’ (15); his mental indolence a fine ‘sticking to his guns’ (16).”124 His excuses look ridiculous to everyone else (verse 13) but not to him (verse 16). As with all other kinds of fools, there is the problem of denial, because sluggards are wise in their own eyes. They cannot face things and, especially, they cannot face what they have become.
What are your “go-to” excuses when you really simply don’t want to tackle a difficult task?
Prayer: Lord, this proverb exaggerates the excuses of the lazy person, but I detect milder forms in me when I am avoiding hard things. I think of them now and they are embarrassing, but they won’t be easy to give up because they feel like protection. Give me the courage to put them aside. Amen.
May 29
Sluggards do not plow in season; so at harvest time they look but find nothing. (20:4)
SLOTH DOESN’T NOTICE THINGS. In ancient agriculture you had to observe the weather closely and go to work in season—at the opportune time. One of the marks of a lazy character is that he demands his own schedule. He is too self-absorbed to notice windows of opportunity that, once closed, are gone forever.
In Ecclesiastes we are told that there is “a time to search and a time to give up; a time to keep and a time to throw away; a time to tear and a time to mend” (Ecclesiastes 3:6–7). There is nothing comforting about the fact that everything in this world changes and passes away. Because God has “set eternity in the human heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11), constant changes are a grief to us. But the lazy heart will not come to grips with this and work hard (or rest) at the right moment. The sluggard needs to learn that only in God’s ultimate future will we experience perfect shalom and rest through the Prince of Shalom, Jesus Christ (Isaiah 9:6). Until then, there is work to do.
Think of opportunities you have missed. Why did you miss them? How can you become wiser so as not to miss them in the future?
Prayer: Lord, “when the set time had fully come,” you came (Galatians 4:4). Even you were attentive to opportunity and timing! I confess that I try to make the world fit my schedule rather than adapting to how things are. Give me a godly flexibility that trusts your plan more than mine! Amen.
May 30
One who is slack in his work is brother to one who destroys. (18:9)
SLOTH DESTROYS. Laziness destroys. As we have seen, laziness hurts you, but it also ruins the good of those around you. How? One obvious way the lazy do that is by not “pulling their weight” in the family or society and thereby increasing the burden on others. But also, the slothful think of themselves first, even in the work they choose to do. They select work for their own comfort or benefit rather than for how it helps others, the community, and society.
Dorothy Sayers observed that during World War II many people in the military found themselves doing work that was vastly more satisfying than their ordinary careers. Why? “For the first time in their lives, they found themselves doing something not for the pay”—army pay was miserable—“and not for the status”—everyone was just thrown in together—“but for the sake of getting something done for us all.”125 The social fabric strengthened and psychological health improved. This is wisdom—working for others rather than for one’s own advancement. So both laziness and work chosen just for one’s own selfish benefit destroy community.
Be blunt with yourself—are you “slack in your work”?
Prayer: Lord, the whole book of Proverbs works against my individualist spirit. I don’t like to think that people around me have any claim on my money, my time, and even the selection of my career. Give me the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:3–5). Impart it to me with your Word and Spirit. Amen.
May 31
Laziness brings on deep sleep, and the shiftless go hungry. (19:15)
SLOTH IS PROGRESSIVE. Sloth first brings on deep sleep and then hunger. In other words, sloth brings a progressive decline of one’s ability to work hard. Just as a person who has lost physical conditioning cannot suddenly run a marathon, so the slothful finds him- or herself less and less able to endure sustained periods of mental exertion or labor. There can be a slow, perhaps irretrievable loss of the basic attitudes and habits necessary for good work. Those include keeping commitments, getting work done on time, not being controlled by outside circumstances, being a self-starter who does not need reminders and coercion, and taking pride in the high quality of one’s work. Once these habits are lost—or if they are never formed—it is extraordinarily hard to recapture them.
While the progress of sloth is natural, there is another gradual process, the progress of “sanctification,” that is supernatural and can overcome the natural decline of sin. It is never complete in this life (Philippians 3:12), but it entails gradual conformity, step by step, to the likeness of Christ (Ephesians 4:23–24).
Ask a friend or someone who knows you well: Am I more unselfish, more at peace, and more disciplined than I was?
Prayer: Lord, I could ask for no greater thing than sanctification. By your free grace, renew me in my whole person after Christ’s image, that I might die more and more unto sin and live more a
nd more unto righteousness.126 Amen.
June 1
The way of the sluggard is blocked with thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway. (15:19)
SLOTH GIVES NO REAL REST. The slothful person here is contrasted not with the hardworking but with the upright (cf. Matthew 25:26). Laziness is not just a temperament but a moral failing. Sloth is self-centered rather than loving. It is dishonest, “trying to sidestep the facts and one’s share of the load.”127 And it is extremely foolish. The way of the sluggard is blocked with thorns means laziness leads ultimately to more work. If you don’t brush your teeth every day, it will lead to costly and painful dental surgery or to infections that can threaten the health of the whole body.
But the image of thorns reminds us that, in a fallen world, all work is laborious and difficult. “Thorns and thistles” (Genesis 3:18) result when human beings turn from God. Now, all work is to a degree frustrating and difficult, even for the upright. But on the cross Jesus took our curse, and the crown of thorns, so that those who believe in him will someday have a renewed, perfect world. He got the thorns so we could have the highway.
How have you seen in your life that laziness leads to more work overall?
Prayer: Lord, I am anxious about the hardness of life. It makes me want to give up. But you promised to speak peace to your people (Psalm 85:8). So help me say to my heart: “Be still my soul: thy best, thy heav’nly Friend; through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.”128 Amen.
June 2
The one who guards a fig tree will eat its fruit, and whoever protects their master will be honored. (27:18)
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