How Do We Deal With Sinful People?
When we talk about sin, there are some things that get more discussion than others. I’m sure you can fill in the blank there on the ones that are more commonly addressed. The thing I’ve noticed in studying through Proverbs this year is that Solomon writes about those obvious sins, but he also speaks on sins that are more subversive– things that we mistake as human nature or excusable or harmless.
Things like gloating over the downfall of someone we don’t like. Or being envious over the successes of evil people, dwelling on the perceived injustice of it.
Doing Good with All We Have
Back in 2015, I was studying abroad in Cape Town, South Africa. While I was there, my grandma and mom made a trip to come and visit. During their stay we went and did so many things that I’ll remember as long as I live, but one day was dedicated totally to climbing Table Mountain. We chose to hike via Platteklip Gorge, an “easy” trail that is about three kilometers of endless switchbacks of steps.
For three very inexperienced hikers, we very much underestimated the difficulty of the trail. And we were under-prepared. We easily ran out of water about a quarter-way into the hike. As we took frequent breaks– did I mention it was all steps?– we were keeping pace with a man that said he was hiking with his friends, but they all left him behind.