Proverbs 22:7-8
The rich rule over the poor,
and the borrower is servant to the lender.
The one who sows iniquity will reap trouble,
and the rod of his fury will end.
Iniquity is not something we usually sow. When we’re sowing things, we’re generally trying to grow things that are helpful and beneficial. Things like beans and tomatoes. But have you ever stopped to think about what you’re unintentionally planting in your life?
What are the things you are planting today that you will reap in down the road? Because the decisions you make today, the things you do today, what you spend your time doing today aren’t just about today. What you do today is also planting seeds for the kind of future you’re going to have.
For instance, if you spend all your time playing video games instead of working, learning, being with your family, etc., you won’t reap much from your work, your intellect or your family down the road. In order to have a great family, you have to invest in your family today. In order to be smarter and wiser, you have to invest in your intellect today. If you want to succeed at your job, you have to invest yourself in your job today.
We spend a lot of time dreaming about “someday” instead of working to create it. We sit around dreaming about what could be, but we don’t do the work day in and day out to create it. We sow seeds of iniquity instead of sees of hope.
Interesting how the phrase “sows iniquity” is used immediately after a proverb about the borrower being servant to the lender. Sure, there’s the literal implication of the verse. When you borrow money from someone, you’re sowing seeds of iniquity for your future. You’re going to have to pay the price for what you did to get whatever it was that was so important that it couldn’t wait. Sadly, it probably wasn’t all that important and all you were trying to buy was status. And the only real way to achieve status is to invest the right kind of seeds. So even that was a seed of iniquity.
But apart from the literal, there is the illustrative idea attached to sowing iniquity. When we sow seeds of video games, we will find ourselves being a servant to them down the road. We’ll be servants to food, to TV, to Facebook, to texting, to hanging out and find ourselves in the bondage of a lifestyle that we can’t sustain and does nothing to provide for a better future.
Check carefully what seeds you are planting today. If you dream of having a great future, you’d better starting planting the seeds for that future today. Lest you arrive at your future and having nothing to show for it except being able to beat Super Mario Bros.
