Troublesome Profits - Proverbs 15:27

He who profits illicitly troubles his own house, But he who hates bribes will live.   Proverbs 15:27

Ours is a society that is quickly becoming corrupt at multiple levels.  It has been sad to watch our country turn from one that valued integrity and honesty, to one that is moving toward the kind of values that exist in a banana republic.  The frequency of elected officials being charged and convicted with fraud is alarming.  The fact that we watch them use their positions of power to enrich themselves with laws they impose on us, while exempting themselves from their own statutes is terrifying.  That is because, as we will learn from today's proverb, those who do such things bring trouble to their own home.  This is true on a personal level, but also on a corporate and even national level too. 

We read that those who profit illicitly trouble their own house.  This simply means that when we choose to leave our integrity at the altar of greed and the pursuit of wealth at any cost, we are going to create serious problems for our family.  This is for several reasons.  First and most importantly is the trouble that is caused for our children and our grandchildren - even to the third and fourth generations of our family.  They watch as we abandon God and embrace the pursuit of riches.  Paul wrote young Timothy and warned that the love of riches is a root of all kinds of evil.  He warns him in the book of 1 Timothy that some who have done this bring harm to themselves and pierce themselves with many a harmful desire.  This will infect our families to several generations. 

We see this in our current immoral business climate in the United States banking and financial sectors.  Hardly a day goes by now without learning about another failure to preserve any moral foundation - as the generation that watched their parents make money and financial security their only goal now take those lessons to new lows.  They are now grabbing all the money they can - in any way that they can - regardless of who is hurt and what businesses are destroyed in the process.  The courts are now filled with men who set up ponzy schemes and who criminally mismanaged funds.  We are learning that raw greed motivated them to steal money that was not theirs.  Oh, and before we get too far away from our proverb, has brought great shame and trouble to their wives, children, and posterity even into the future. 

We are given a protective against this in the second part of this proverb.  The one who hates bribes will live.  He will be protected against the devastating effects of greed.  Bribes blind those who receive them.  They are unable to see the truth because they are focused on easy money that is put in front of them.  The bribe can be anything from the cash handed to a politician to look the other way of pass legislation that gives unfair advantages to certain businesses or groups - to the more subtle bribe that encourages someone to cut corners and cook books to cover their own greed for money.  No matter how the bribe presents itself it is lying to us.  It promises easy money, quick wealth, a way to get whatever we want without hard work and sacrifice.  But the bribe lies to us - not telling us of the pitfalls and dangers that are inherent in living for the world and the flesh.  These two foes of our spiritual growth and maturity are truly deadly - and can not just polute our spirits - but those of many future generations of our family.  That is why we need to protect ourselves from "every kind of greed," as our Lord warns.  For the truth is that a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.  Life comes as we learn to submit every area of our lives to the Lord for Him to use for His glory.  So the next time you are offered a bribe to lay aside biblical principles and values - see it for the dangerous thing it is.  Reject it and turn to the Lord for strength to be content with what you have.  That is the path to life!