do not let go

Lately I've noticed in myself a daily internal debate between doing something wisely on the one hand, and, on the other hand, sacrificing that whole "wisely" deal in pursuit of instant [or close-to-instant] gratification.

Some days it takes shape in my ongoing conflict over packing lunch for school or spending waaaaaay too much to eat fast food on campus (it seems silly to say this, but I'm guessing other people can identify with the dilemma). Other days I catch myself wanting to run out to Barnes & Noble to buy a nice shiny new book that I know I could buy online for significantly less, if I were willing to wait a couple weeks for it to come in the mail.

Other days it's played out in the way I spend my time. Or the way I treat other people.

Sometimes knowing the right thing to do isn't hard. It's the mundane drudge of doing it that trips me up.

I was in the middle of one of these "I-know-what's-the-right-thing-to-do-but-I'd-just-as-soon-do-something-easier" debates the other night when I remembered that there was some helpful advice for decision-making in Proverbs 4.

So I opened to that chapter and found something that surprised me.

It's almost like wisdom and understanding are on the run -- likely to slip away if they aren't gripped tightly enough. The father in Proverbs 4 says things like

- hold fast my words (v. 4)
- keep my commandments (v. 4)
- keep hold of instruction (v. 13)
- do not let go (v. 13)
- guard her [instruction] (v. 13)
- let [my words] not escape from your sight (v. 21)
- keep your heart with all vigilance (v. 23)

Then, in closing, the passage that made me turn to Proverbs 4 in the first place:

Ponder the path of your feet;
then all your ways will be sure.
Do not swerve to the right or to the left;
turn your foot away from evil.

What does all this mean?

When I read it, a couple of things stood out to me. First is that the wise man here takes for granted that it's easy to let go of wisdom (even if you know -- head knowledge -- the right thing to do). Second is that the difficulty of the doing is no excuse. We don't have a Biblical free pass to say "I knew it was right to do ________________ but, given the time pressures and my own laziness, or given the strength of the temptation, or given my doubt that God will still work things out if I do Right Thing X, I chose to do ________________ instead."

It's a given that doing won't be easy, so we are equipped, encouraged, reminded and reminded again not to let go the instruction we've been given.

Here's the same lesson over again from James 1:

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.