Proverbs 24:19-20
Fret not yourself because of evildoers, and be not envious of the wicked, for the evil man has no future; the lamp of the wicked will be put out.

This proverb seems pretty straightforward and easy to understand, but I think that it is a concept that we also easily dismiss. 

We think, “I wouldn’t be jealous of an evil person,” but in reality there are times that we are.  The easiest place to see this is the celebrity world.  Most of us would love to have either the power or looks or money or fame of people we see on TV.  We tend to dismiss the actions and lifestyle of these people that we follow around through magazines, TV and Internet.  However, this Proverb gives us a bit of perspective to help us deal with this jealousy (AKA idolatry) in our lives.

The past year has brought quite a few celebrity deaths from Michael Jackson to Steve Jobs to Whitney Houston.  One thing all of these people have in common is that they stood in front of the LORD and were seen as either a vile sinner or perfectly righteous.  No matter someone’s influence, money, power or looks, all that matters ultimately is their relationship with God through His Son Jesus.  Guess what?  Even us poor, pitiful normal people will have the same exact situation when we die.

Instead of looking up to those we view as “awesome,” we need to see everyone in light of what God says about them.  All of us are evil men without a future as this Proverb says, but Jesus changes who we are and through him we are declared to be righteous before God.  We are given a future.  We should not be envious of those who walk in their evilness, we should be deeply sorrowful for them and pray for them and tell them about Jesus.  That includes the person on TMZ, as well as, the person sitting next to us at work or in line with us at the store. 

- Brandon Hutchinson