You Asked To Know Why
( Do not be over-righteous)
Part 2
Eccles 7
KJV
16 Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself?
17+ Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time?
The subject of being “ over wise” I dealt with in my previous post. In this I propose to deal with the other interesting warning “ Be not righteous over much; “.
Do not be “ over righteous “. If you do you’ll either destroy yourself or die before your time!
Please take note that these are matters about life “ under the sun”, advice or warnings offered to address life “under the sun “ challenges
What does it mean to be “ over -righteous “ is there any such a thing ? Read what follows:
To understand what it means to be “over-righteous, "we have to set it up in a practical manner.
You’ve seen this or experienced it before; you always do good to someone every day. Even if you don’t have you do your best to meet his/her needs.
The day you are unable to do as before ; you become a bad person; he/she goes around speaking evil of you.
And because some dislike you they believe him/her and spread this bad mouthing about you to others. Before you realise you’ve been disgraced and humiliated. Your credibility has been destroyed!
You heard it and wept in your room with deep regret in your heart.
Why? You were “over righteous” by stretching yourself beyond what is acceptable, just because you wanted to help someone.
Another example , you make yourself available to someone, through difficulties and sacrifices Whenever he/she is in need you are always there.
This person has never ever visited or picked up the phone to call to inquire how you are. To him/her you are only important when he/she is in need, or has a problem
You one day took a decision not to be available to him/her any more; this unfortunately made you a bad person. He/she then embarked on a negative campaign against you. As a result, your hard-earned reputation/name got soiled
The cause? You were “over-righteous ". You made yourself available to him/her beyond what is permissible!
So to be “over -righteous” therefore is to do or go beyond what is acceptable . So be “righteous” and not “over-righteous "; stay within acceptable limits if you don’t want to be hurt by the ungrateful!
This is what the proverb writer was warning us against. He is not against being “ righteous “ but rather “over-righteous ". Many are hurt, disappointed etc because they went beyond what was acceptable and had their fingers burnt as it were.
A thought to help you
( over -wicked)
Part3