Best Laid Plans
21
It is a sin to belittle one’s neighbor;
blessed are those who help the poor.
22
If you plan to do evil, you will be lost;
if you plan to do good, you will receive unfailing love and faithfulness.
Verse 21
In verse 20, the neighbor tried to avoid the poor man. In verse 21, Solomon explains that this attitude is evil. God is pleased with the generous person. God is kind to the person who is kind to poor people.
Verse 22
Life is like a journey. A person who plots evil deeds is like a traveller on the wrong road. The traveller’s road might lead to danger. And the evil man’s life will cause his death. And his evil life will take him to hell. His evil plans might bring him money, but he will lose everything.
A person who makes a good plan is like a traveller on the right road. His plan will achieve good things, for example, love and truth.
The first proverb advises us not to despise our neighbor. In today's world, many of us don't even know our neighbors, making it easy to ignore or even dislike them without understanding who they are. It’s ironic that it can be easier to dislike someone we don’t know than to love them.
The second verse clarifies that it's not about being blessed to be poor. Money itself isn't evil, but the love of money is. Extreme poverty is hard for many of us to understand, making it difficult to feel genuine pity for those in such dire situations.
Short-term foreign missions can be eye-opening experiences for those who haven't grasped what it means to live in desperate poverty.
Verse 22 is straightforward: plotting evil is bad, while love and faithfulness are good.
Let me ask you: When you drop your spare change into the Salvation Army kettle at Christmas, are you truly showing the compassion for the poor that Verse 21 calls for?
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