Photo of an old gate guarding a monastery near Ohrid Macedonia
The earnings of the righteous
(the upright, in right standing with God)
lead to life,
but the profit of the wicked leads to further sin.
Proverbs 10:16
This verse in Romanian says something like:
The righteous uses his earnings for life,
but the wicked one uses his earnings for sin.
Proverbs 10:16
Those two different point of views. But I think that they work together. They do not contradict one another. The first one says that the earnings themselves, the type of profit we make, if you are righteous, helps us to go go on the good path. And if we are wicked will will produce some kind of black profit that buries us deeper in sin.
The other translations says that if we are righteous and we live accordingly to our name, then we will use all we have to do good. But if we are wicked we will find out delight in sin and we’ll do that by investing in sin, so sin more.
In the same time if I am training now and if I want to be righteous, to become a wise man, I have to invest in the real life, in my eternity. But if I invest in sinful activities, then I will become wicked. Actually…
The heart is deceitful above all things,
and it is exceedingly perverse and corrupt and severely, mortally sick!
Who can know it [perceive, understand, be acquainted with his own heart and mind]?
Jeremiah 17:9
All this means that our hart is already wicked. So what can we do to transform it into a loving and caring one? Well, the only way is to give my hart to God. I did, but the struggle continues. It happens with people to become saints the next day. But this does not seem to happen with me. I still have my war against sin and evil. The Devil is not just letting me alone. I pray everyday to have the strength to fight, even if sometimes I loose like I did yesterday.
We don’t have just money to invest, Time, sentiments, feelings are also available to be invested in a way or other.
So what can I do? What can we all do about this fight? Well, as the verse says, to continue to fight the good battle. To continue to invest in the eternal life and try not to invest in sin.
