Self-destruction

Photo by Peter Herrmann on Unsplash‍ ‍

It’s the basic plot of any tragedy: when a person gets in his or her own way. Macbeth, Othello, King Lear, Garfield sometimes—all doing fine, with a clear path to happiness until they get in their own way and self-destruct. Here’s what we read in Proverbs 14:1, 3 (ESV):

The wisest of women builds her house,

but folly with her own hands tears it down.

By the mouth of a fool comes a rod for his back,

but the lips of the wise will preserve them.

In other words: Don’t ruin everything you’ve built with foolishness. Don’t ask for trouble with your own lips. The list of self-destructive tendencies is inexhaustible: secrets, self-love, seeking to control others, failure to trust, failure to forgive, failure to get help for addiction or besetting sin, not seeking healing over past hurts, lack of self-control, lack of addressing problems when small, treating others with disdain, refusal to admit one’s own mistakes, thinking too much of oneself, blaming others, setting expectations too high, selfish motives that employ manipulation instead of selfless motives that employ authenticity. We could go on and on. As Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death” (ESV). In other words, there’s perhaps a reasonable sounding excuse to be made—that would fool us when we think it—for each one of these self-destructive life-approaches.

Jesus surely read the Proverbs, and Luke 2:52 says that he grew in wisdom as he grew up. His counsel for life is found in the Beatitudes of Matthew 5: humility, empathy and grief, meekness, hunger for righteous action, mercy toward others (yes, who don’t deserve it), purity and authenticity of heart, a peacemaking mindset, and even persecution for the sake of Jesus. Jesus lived by these constructive life-approaches.

Jesus died for us when he died; he surely didn’t die for any foolishness on his part. We so self-destruct that we killed our own Savior. And yet, he rose again and calls us to a) repentance and b) belief on him alone, for c) eternal forgiveness and life. The Holy Spirit indwells the Christian and makes the wisdom of God something beautiful toward which we aspire. We can compare the list of self-destructive tendencies with the list of constructive Beatitudes and find the latter nobler, wiser, holier, and happier. They build rather than tear down. Though the Beatitudes might feel self-destructive upon approach, though they might seem like they would cost us some humility or effort or vulnerability, these are the ways of wisdom and blessing. Let’s not get in our own way. Let’s not self-destruct. Let’s follow the paths of wisdom set by God, walked by Jesus, empowered by the Holy Spirit.