Proverbs 6:30-32 (ESV)

[30] People do not despise a thief if he steals

to satisfy his appetite when he is hungry,

[31] but if he is caught, he will pay sevenfold;

he will give all the goods of his house.

[32] He who commits adultery lacks sense;

he who does it destroys himself.

Proverbs 6 is about self-indulgence. It is about the dangers of satisfying immediate and momentary passions and desires. Chapter 5 talks about adultery. Chapter 6 begins by taking about debt and ends with adultery. What do debt and adultery have in common? They are both often the result of choosing immediate satisfaction rather than embracing long-term wisdom. Chapter 5 indicates that we need to stop allowing our passions to control us. Chapter 6 challenges the reader to take the long-term view.

Immediate fulfillment of desire results in debt, bondage, and discipline. Concerning debt, Solomon warns his readers to get free of it as soon as possible. Work hard and take the long-term view. Not even ants live just for today despite the counsel of the 70s rock band The Grass Roots who sang, “Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Live for today.” Ants store up food for later. Debt is bondage that is the result of immediate gratification rather than long-term planning. Concerning adultery, Solomon warns his readers not to go down that road. It leads to discipline from God, and justice and retribution from man. Immediate gratification results in long-term consequences.

The newspaper carries stories every day of people whose lives have been disrupted and destroyed because they gave in to immediate gratification. They failed to consider the long-term consequences of their actions. All that they trained for, planned for, and hoped for went down in flames because they failed to look past the passion of the moment.

Solomon is painfully aware of these dangers. His father, David, succumbed to a momentary passion. It ended with a political cover-up and the death of a trusted friend. Solomon may be both wealthy and wise, but he knows the pain and the consequences of short-term thinking. The brokenness of his own family tells the story.

Every day we are faced with opportunities to choose immediate gratification or wise, long-term behavior. Over time, we develop patterns based on the choices we make. What do you generally choose? Sunday my car got caught in a rut and I ended up in the ditch. I needed help to get out. You may need help to get out of your present bondage, but if you do not change the choices you make, you are only headed into deeper bondage. We need to back up and choose a different rut, or perhaps create our own rut based on long-term thinking rather than immediate gratification. It is not easy, but it is worth it. Short-term thinking has long-term consequences.