Proverbs 12:28. In the path of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death.
The proverbs aren’t just about tucking away some witty sayings that sound good on coffee mugs and bumper stickers. The proverbs aren’t even simply wise sayings to help you have a better life.
The proverbs are life and death.
King Solomon is making us an offer we can’t refuse – No Death! The path of righteousness is life without death. Eternal life?
The clear and obvious problem with the proverb is that none of us walks the path of righteousness. “There is none righteous,” the Apostle Paul said. Even worse, “All have sinned, and the wage of sin is death.” So how can Solomon say that there is a way to not die? How can we actually live a righteous life before God and live forever? How can we know that even though we will die, we can still live forever with God?
Did Solomon understand, as his father, David and his ancestor Abraham did, that righteousness comes from faith? Did he know the words of Psalm 32 – “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” Did he know the words of Moses from Genesis 15 – “Abraham’s faith was counted to him as righteousness.” I’m sure he did.
Whether or not King Solomon understood the gift of eternal life from God or not, we do. We understand the fullness of the gospel’s promise. We know that the gift of eternal life does not come from following the path of righteousness, but rather by a righteousness that comes through faith.
Philippians 3:9. [I want to] be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.
Romans 6:23 …but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The only way to die and still live forever is to accept the free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ. Have you done that? Have you received Jesus as the greatest gift from God? Are you trusting in his righteousness instead of your own? I hope that you are. Faith in Jesus is our only hope in death.
Salvation in Christ does not come from perfectly following the path of righteousness, no one has or can do that. But salvation by faith does set us on the path of righteousness for the rest of our lives. Saving faith is not only passive faith, it is active faith. Active faith that presents ourselves to God as the instruments of his righteousness.
Romans 6:13. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.
Our self-righteousness does not move us from death to life, but having been moved from death to life by the imputed righteousness of Jesus produces in us a participation in the very righteousness of God. His instruments, weapons, tools of righteousness in the world today as, by faith, we present our lives, body and soul, to him day by day.
You: Are you sure that if you died today you would live forever with God?
You in Christ: What does trusting in Christ’s righteousness alone look like on a day to day basis?
Christ in you: What part of your life do you need to present to God as an instrument of righteousness?
Pray: Father, the gift of eternal life is only good because I will spend it with you. Let me start now, living each day as if it were in the fullness of your presence. Amen.
To Live is Christ 