Proverbs 10:28:
The prospect of the righteous is joy, but the hope of the wicked will perish.
The twenty-eighth comic of Fools Made Wise starts with Leroy sitting at a table, writing a list. James walks by and asks Leroy what he is working on. Leroy tells him that with the
holidays coming, he is working on his ultimate Christmas list. Leroy then says something interesting: that his happiness will last forever when he gets all this stuff. Yikes!
Forever the realist, James tells Leroy that is awfully foolish to rest the full weight of his soul on something that can’t handle the weight. James knows the first part of Proverbs 10:28 to be true, that the prospect of the righteous is joy. For the believer in Jesus, what’s coming for us in Him is a higher and better joy that no one can ever take from us. We taste that now in part, but one day, we will taste it fully in Jesus.
Since James knows all this, he nudges Leroy to consider the better sources of joy available to him. In typical Leroy fashion, he misses this, and wonders out loud if Blue-Ray or regular DVDs are better. Not wanting to chance it, he decides to ask for both. This shows us the second part of Proverbs 10:28, that the hope of the wicked will perish. If our only hope is in this world and the stuff it offers (think “Vanity Fair” from Pilgrim’s Progress), that kind of hope will die in the grave with us.
In the days we are in, we need BETTER hope and BETTER joy to sustain us. Aren’t you glad that at Christmas, God gave us His BEST gift in Jesus? It is only through Him that we can have joy in this life (and the life to come), AND it’s only through Him that we can have a hope that surpasses the grave as well. Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him! (Psalms 34:8)
For more from Pastor Travis Woronowicz, visit foolsmadewise.com.
Categories: Fools Made Wise