How Do We Deal With Sinful People?

“Do not rejoice and gloat when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad [in self-righteousness] when he stumbles, or the Lord will see your gloating and be displeased, and turn His anger away from your enemy.

Do not get upset because of evildoers, or be envious of the wicked, for there will be no future for the evil man; the lamp of the wicked will be put out.” (Proverbs 24:17-20, AMP)

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.

These things seem small and petty, but how are they sinful? In truth, they reveal what is in our hearts. It’s a fact of life that we may not prefer everyone we come in contact with, yet we are commanded by God to love our neighbors as ourselves– treating them in a way that doesn’t hold grudges or seek revenge. And like it or not, this encompasses not just actions, but our thoughts as well. They reveal a character flaw within us that is not yet conformed to the God we serve.

Because let’s face it: Jesus treated people in a way they didn’t deserve. Taking it a step farther, Jesus treated US in a way WE didn’t deserve, by dying for our sins and offering us grace in exchange.

So yes, we are to treat others in the same fashion, but we are also not excused to think self-righteous thoughts about them either. These proverbs say, “let not your heart be glad when [your enemy] stumbles” and “Do not get upset because of evildoers.” That’s not an outright command for the person in the wrong, but it is for us as the people who interact with or have been directly wronged by that person. And of course, God punishes those who are evil, sinful, and wicked– and those things are certainly addressed time and again in the Bible– but someone else’s evil doesn’t give the righteous license to judge as if we were God or to rescind the kindness of Christ because we don’t find them worthy.

These proverbs have everything to do with how we treat those in rebellion with God and the sins we may turn a blind eye to.

Do we gloat over the misfortunes of those who don’t gel with us? Do we laugh in satisfaction when we feel justice has been exacted on those we don’t deem worthy of success or accomplishments? Do we shake our fists at God indignantly, complaining about how the sinful only seem to succeed despite their evilness? Do we envy wicked people for the momentary success their wickedness seems to win them? 

We shouldn’t, but sometimes it’s hard to catch ourselves doing it because we feel justified in doing so. Which begs the question: what is the appropriate response?

First, we remember that justice and vengeance and judgement all belong to the Lord. No one escapes His notice and no one evades the wages of sin before God (Romans 12:17-21, Hebrews 10:29-31). We also see a glimpse of this idea in the scripture verses from today: it’s not for us to be upset over the evil of other people, because there is no future for them. Even if we don’t see retribution on earth and the reversal of good fortune, that person will have to die as we all do. And if that person continues in their evil actions with no belief or confession of sin, that person will stand before God and answer for their wrongdoing and rebellion before Him.

So the first part is that God will exact judgment in due time, whether here or in the afterlife. But what should we do in the meantime? In 2 Timothy 4:14-18, we see Paul telling Timothy about Alexander the metalworker, who proved to be a nuisance to Paul and the Gospel message he preached. Paul notes that this metalworker did him “a great deal of harm.” But he goes on to encourage Timothy that God will deal with this guy, just as God has strengthened Paul to keep going in his mission to fully proclaim the Gospel.

Paul’s belief was that not only would God deal with this agitator, but that He would continue to strengthen Paul to do the work He set out for him. Where Paul could have gotten petty in trying to deal with this metalworker himself, or continuing to dwell on the trouble he was creating, he advises Timothy to follow his lead in ignoring the guy and not letting it distract from the real mission: loving sinners enough to share Christ with them and encouraging local churches to do the same.

We should do the same. Nothing productive or good ever comes from dwelling on sinners and the futile ways they choose to live. They may wrong us and they may get under our skin in ways we can’t even put into words at times, but upsetting ourselves or fretting over their lack of righteousness does not glorify God. Gloating over God’s exacting justice, as if we were not also dead in our sin before the saving grace of God, does not honor or glorify the God that forgave our sin and drew us to Himself so we could be holy. To do so only shows the sin yet to be dealt with in our own hearts; the pride we need to confront and let God refine. 

Like Paul, we can acknowledge the hurt that person has caused, but not dwell on it. We continue on in the command God has given us to share the Gospel and make disciples. Like Jesus, who knew Judas and knew how He would be betrayed by him, we continue to live righteously and trust God to root out sin and punish it rightfully. 

We should not be puffed up in the righteousness that God has brought about and bestowed upon us. If we remember the fact that we also were wicked, undeserving enemies of God without His grace to save us, then our gloating and our envy, our fretting and our self-righteousness will be easier to lay down at the feet of Jesus along with the rest of the sin He’s confronted in us.