“Haughty eyes and a proud heart— the unplowed field of the wicked—produce sin.”

This verse makes me sad. I want everyone who works hard to find joy in their efforts and the outcomes of those efforts. But Solomon tells us that even a person’s good work can be sin. “Even their civil or natural actions, which in themselves are lawful and good, are made sinful, as they are managed by ungodly men, without any regard to the glory of God, which ought to be the end of all our actions; is sin — is by them turned into sin.” (Benson) As with everything else we see in God’s Word, it comes down to motives. If we are not doing what we do—whatever it is—for God’s glory, we turn it into sin. That can be hard to understand. I once had a long conversation with a mom who wanted me to know that her daughter’s work with the Peace Corps was serving God. She thought her daughter would be the perfect person to lead our ministry’s Project Serve trip to the Dominican Republic. I told her how wonderful that was. Then she explained that her daughter didn’t really believe in the God of the Bible, but believed in a “higher power” present in everyone’s life. She said her daughter helped others because of that higher power. My heart sank. I gently shifted the conversation to a friendly discussion about Jesus. In the end, she said the Peace Corps was probably a better fit for her daughter, and she wanted to consider more of what we had talked about for herself. A perhaps clearer translation of the verse says: “A haughty look, a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked are sin.” (Proverbs 21:4, NKJV) Looking down on others in arrogance is common among those who believe they can operate just fine without God. Perhaps the height of arrogance is believing we can do anything good apart from Him. Without Jesus, Scripture tells us that even our best efforts are like filthy rags compared to what God can do through us. Today, serve God in everything. #BeTheEdge

“Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.” Romans‬ ‭10‬:‭3‬ ‭NIV‬‬