Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of evil. Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn away from it and pass on. For they do not sleep unless they have done evil; and their sleep is taken away unless they make someone fall. For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence. - Proverbs 4:14-17.

It happened in the parking lot of an Oceanside, California store. What happened? A wannabe carjacker failed three times. With his first attempt the carjacker threatened a woman with a knife, but she was able to drive away. In the second attempt, the carjacker used a gun to threaten a woman who ran inside the store for help. The carjacker hit pay dirt with his third attempt. He ordered a woman from her car with his gun, and he was able to enter the vehicle on this third attempt. However, the car was equipped with an anti-theft device which disabled the vehicle and locked the carjacker inside. He was able to smash through a window and escape. The wannabe carjacker is reportedly still at large. (4NBCSouthernCalifornia 12.14.12)

Sadly, some people are determined to do wrong. In fact, as the Book of Proverbs points out there are some people who greatly enjoy doing what is wrong, what is evil. Because, “...they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.” At some point in time, they entered “the path of the wicked” and began to “walk in the way of evil.” What great darkness has come upon their lives! Jesus says in Matthew 6:22-23, “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” The admonition of Proverbs is that we do not travel on the “way of evil” and that we “turn away from it and pass on.”

As much as some people are determined to do wrong, there are some who are determined to do what is right. Their eyes are good, and their whole bodies are full of light. As the Bible says in Proverbs 4:18, “But the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.” What powerful contrast! What a great choice is given to us in the way to live our lives! We can choose great darkness, wickedness, evil; or, we can choose the path of light, of the shining sun, that shines ever brighter.

Which path have you chosen for your life? Are you determined to do wrong? Do you love the darkness? Or, are you determined to do what is right? You love the light, because you love the Lord? And God says through the Book of Proverbs: “My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life. Put away from you a deceitful mouth, and put perverse lips far from you. Let your eyes look straight ahead, and your eyelids look right before you. Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established. Do not turn to the right or the left; remove your foot from evil (Proverbs 4:20-27).”