A WORD TO THE WISE. Proverbs 28: 24

Proverbs 28: 24     Whoever robs his father or his mother, and says, “It is no transgression,” the same is companion to a destroyer.

Proverbs 28: 24. Buford Graves (my pops) hated being lied to.  Seriously hated being lied to.  If I set something on fire as a kid, the whooping for the fire would be separate and less severe than the whooping for fabricating a response when he asked, “Why the  ***** is there a big ******  scorched place in the back yard?” 

In fact, over time I realized that if I stood up like a man and explained what happened honestly, the wrath would still come, but it would be much, much less severe, and less “linguistically colorful.”

(I’m speaking hypothetically, of course.  I never actually set anything on fire much.)

Daddy’s explanation for his hatred of lying above most all other sins was, “If you’ll lie, you’ll steal.  If you’ll steal, you’ll kill. And before I let you do that, I’ll kill you first.”

For Pops, lying was a gateway offense.  It fostered a mentality that was the foundation of all criminal behavior.

Now read Proverbs 28: 24 again. 

Solomon was telling his son that robbing/ defrauding/ taking financial advantage of your parents is a gateway offense.   “Son, if you’ll rob your daddy or your mama then you’re just like those people who ride around destroying people and villages----you little ***** barbarian!”

The mentality that allows your friend to steal grandma’s social security check and feel justified in doing so  is the mentality of a companion who will defraud you and then put on a Oscar winning performance framing you for whatever went wrong.

If someone brags about how they trick their parents out of money, manipulate their guardians for personal gain, and misuse elders in their family/ community ------ put some distance between you and that person.  If they’re O.K. with doing that, then they will do anything to anybody.

If you are/ have been guilty of defrauding parents or elders, check yourself.  What’s done is done, but if you feel bad about doing it---good.   The guilt is a good thing because it means that you haven’t given yourself over to the path of bitterness.

But, the bitterness and sense of entitlement that unrepentant fraud creates and nurtures  won't stay  contained in your relationship with the elders.  That same mentality will poison your other relationships.

If they have failed to do right by you, they were wrong.  Forgive them.  Forgive them.  And move on with your life. 

Don’t try to avenge yourself.  Don’t try to take by any means necessary what really may rightfully be yours.   If you’re obsessed with what was not given in the past, you will miss what’s available in the present and the future.  And so, you will destroy yourself and maybe even the generation that follows you.

Before Cain became a murder, God warned him that his attitude/ his mentality had him standing at the door/ the gate of a horrible, horrible act.   Cain ignored the warning.  Cain didn’t repent of his bitterness toward his brother, and after he destroyed Abel, he still showed no remorse for what he’d done. 

Cain opened the gateway to worse and worse sins, until it consumed him and infected generations of his descendants (Genesis 4: 23, 24).

So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? ^  If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” (Genesis 3: 6,7)

Solomon was right.  And, Buford was right, too.  For your own good, be careful how you treat old folks.  Be careful what gates of offense you walk through.

---Anderson T. Graves II

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is the pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church

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