Ecclesiastes 9:18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroys much good. How much of destruction may flow from one single life may be seen if we look at the subject - I. NEGATIVELY. We may judge of the magnitude of the evil by considering: 1. How one evil life may hinder the work of God; e.g. Achan, Sanballat, Herod, Nero. Who shall say how much of Christian influence has been arrested by one grossly inconsistent member of a Church, or by one arch-persecutor of the gospel of Christ? 2. How much a man may fail to do by refusing to spend his powers in the service of God. To a man with large means, great resources, brilliant capacities, almost anything is open in the direction of holy usefulness, of widespread and far-descending influence. All this is lost, and in a sense destroyed, by a selfish and guilty withholdment of it all from the service of God and man. II. POSITIVELY. We may estimate the serious and lamentable mischief of an evil life if we think that a godless man may be injuring his neighbors: 1. By weakening or undermining their faith; causing them to lose their hold on Divine truth, and thus sinking into the miseries of doubt or into the darkness and despair of utter unbelief. 2. By undoing the integrity of the upright; leading them into the fatal morass of an immoral life. 3. By cooling, or even killing, the consecration of the zealous; causing them to slacken their speed or even to leave the field of noble service. One man, by his own evil example, by his words of folly and falsity, by his deeds of wrong, may enfeeble many minds, may despoil many hearts, may misguide many souls, may blight and darken many lives. - C. Parallel Verses KJV: Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroyeth much good.WEB: Wisdom is better than weapons of war; but one sinner destroys much good. |
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