There’s a limit
He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck,
will suddenly be broken beyond healing. Proverbs 29:1.
There’s an idea that floats around in Christian circles about the endlessness of the patience of God. But, of course, a cursory reading of the Scriptures informs us that such an idea doesn’t hold water. God is merciful, gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love (Exodus 34:6). He is also a God who will by no means clear the guilty (Exodus 34:7), and who puts before humanity a binary choice: choose life, or choose death (Deuteronomy 30:15). Therefore, if you hear his words to repent, you have one duty: heed them.
God is patient, but you need to remember this: he’s already been patient with you. The evidence of this is the fact that you’re still breathing and he’s giving you another opportunity. So take advantage of that gift. Choose life, and choose it now (2 Corinthians 6:2).
Because you don’t know how brittle your neck really is. At some point God quits giving chances, and calls your bill due.
For lower taxes
4 By justice a king builds up the land,
but he who exacts gifts tears it down. Proverbs 29:4
I often think about taxation when I read this verse. I might be reading a little too much capitalism into Solomon here, but there are some pretty clear implications from what he’s saying. You get more of what you incentivize.
If the king exacts gifts for himself, the people are going to have fewer resources with which to produce, and less incentive to do so because it is being robbed.
Likewise, if he is focused upon justice, and seeing that people are rewarded for hard and wise labor (rewarding the doer of good), then the people will flourish.
To apply this in a more contemporary way, if you are voting for politicians based upon what they promise to give you at the expense of “the government”, then you are playing the role of the exacting king. Governments can only give gifts by first taking from the populace. However, if you look for leaders who are focused upon justice - that is to say, a fair playing field of evenly enforced laws - then you are, in some measure, in the place of the king seeking to build up the land.
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