Proverbs 12:27-28

The lazy person does not roast his prey,
but personal possessions are precious to the diligent.
In the path of righteousness there is life,
but another path leads to death.

Have you ever gone to the store to buy something and then when you get home realize that you bought everything but you went to the store for? It happens to the best of us. Or, maybe you’ve done this. You go to the store to get some ice cream, and when you come home you sit it on counter. A while later (maybe quite a while) you can’t remember if you put it away. Sure enough, there is your precious ice cream, in a big melted puddle of what was once delicious cream. If you had just taken them 30 seconds to put the ice cream away, you’d be enjoying your tasty treat right now. But, because you didn’t, now all you have is the taste of regret.

That’s similar to today’s proverb. However, the picture is just a little more drastic. This would be more akin to buying some hamburger and leaving it out and letting it spoil before you eat it. This person’s prey would have been the food he needs. It is the food he needed for a meal. But instead of cooking it after hunting it, he just lets it go to waste. He was probably too tired to cook it after working so hard hunting it.

But to the diligent person, personal possessions are precious. They understand that every possession they have represents a certain amount of time worked in order to have been able to pay for it. Every possession has a dollar sign attached to it. We only make so much per hour. Therefore, every possession we own also has an hour amount attached to it. We spent not just money, but life on acquiring the possession.

The path of righteousness leads to life. But there is another path that leads to death. Of course, we now know that the path that leads to death is the path of the wicked, the path of the non-diligent, lazy person. The path that leads to life is the one that puts the ice cream and milk away right when you get home. The path that leads to death is the one that leaves the ice cream on the counter to melt. Okay, maybe not literally, but that’s a pretty mad mistake. (I take ice cream very seriously.)