At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)
“As righteousness tendeth to life: So he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death” (Proverbs 11:19).
The great Puritan minister Thomas Watson once said that certain rebels were the kind who “sinned until they were out of breath.” He did this, citing Jer. 9:5—“And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: They have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity.”
These sentiments blend very nicely with what this proverb states. Righteousness has a tendency toward life. This seems more like a steady pace, something much more regular than what the wicked do. The wicked are more impetuous, and they chase evil down. They are zealous for the evil thing and so they chase it down, running after their own death.
Picture a day at an airport, and it is a day in which a certain airplane is going to crash and burn, killing everyone on board. Now imagine a man trying to catch that plane, but he is running late. He runs through the airport, dodging others, colliding with suitcases, tripping several times, and swearing under his breath. He is doing everything he can to make it to the gate on time, and if he makes it, he will have obtained his own death. He runs after his own death until he is out of breath.
Righteous, by contrast, is not in the same kind of hurry. We are of course to be zealous in our love for the Lord, but it is to be a zeal tempered by steadiness. The old Latin saying comes to mind—festina lente, make haste slowly. Being zealous is not the same thing as being frantic.
Lust, however, demands what it wants, and has to have it now. But it is not possible to chase after sin like this without also chasing after the wages of sin like this. And the paycheck of sin is death. More than a few sinners do more than earn that paycheck. They run after their pay. They demand it now.
