Proverbs 17:13
Do
you know anyone who has a car that just seems to keep breaking down? You know
the kind. Every week there seems to be something else that requires a repair.
Some cars are known for being repair hungry. FIAT cars have been known for
years for being unreliable. “Fix It Again Tony” became the unofficial brand name.
Both the engineering and the manufacturing process were flawed. I don’t know if
the new FIATs are better. I would hope so.
Even
some individual cars rolling off assembly lines can be lemons. A key person had
a bad day, leaving out steps in the assembly process. The car was doomed to
failure. The nature of that particular car was bad. No matter how much love and
money gets thrown at it, it wall always disappoint the owner.
Some
people are that way. No matter how much effort is thrown their direction, they
continue to hurt those around them. They never seem to turn over a new leaf.
Some never even try. They are doing wrong, they know it, and yet they continue
to do the wrong. Even when people do nice things for them, they turn right
around and take advantage of their kindness.
This
can be very hard on the person trying to help. We usually want some kind of
positive feedback, a thank you, a change in behavior. We want something that
lets us know that we haven’t wasted our time and energy. But nothing but irresponsibility
comes from that person.
Love
your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. These are Jesus’ words. Even
when people are bent on doing evil, we are called upon to do good.
Our
proverb tells us that evil will remain in the house of someone who embraces
evil actions and attitude as a way of life. Good and evil are incompatible. You
can’t have dirty soap! Soap by its nature cleans. If it doesn’t clean, it is no
longer soap. An evil person does what comes naturally: evil. It doesn’t mean
that they can’t be good people, but left to their own way, evil will come, even
when good has been done to them.