The Good Life Is Upright

(Proverbs 11:6 KJV)  The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them: but transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness.

Yesterday I commented on a verse in I Thesselonians ?.  It used the word “deliver”.  We see the same English word being used in Proverbs today.  Coincidence?  As someone once said, “It is amazing how often we have a coincidence when God is involved.”

Moral behavior will “deliver” (5337) {23:14}.  This has the same sense as the NT word.  It means to rescue or pull away.  This is not a statement of eternal salvation, it is a statement of how we live after we have been regenerated.  Righteous behavior will pull us away from many of the traps that life lays for us.  Someone once said, “You can’t cheat an honest man.”  Why?  Because their values and moral fiber keep them from taking advantage of others and thus it is hard to scam them.  A righteous person does not buy pirated software because he knows it comes from a questionable source.  An upright businessman does not stock shoddy merchandise because he knows it will not deliver fair value. 

The opposite of deliverance is being “taken" (caught NASB) (3920).  Several times in Proverbs it refers to snares.  That is a different word but the idea is there.  I like the KJV translation of the last word.  “Naughtiness” (1942) (10:3) catches my attention in this modern day.  “Greed” is an overused word in our day where free enterprise is being attacked.  Either way, behavior that goes against the standards of God leads to unpleasant ends.  Today.  Tomorrow.  And if repentance and confession does not take place, eternally.

So?  Don’t get hung up on legalism or trying to be perfect.  Is there a trace of naughtiness that might emerge today?  Squash it.  Make a bunch of little decisions.  At each fork take the way of the upright.  Life will be better.