Proverbs 11:5
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The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way: but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness.
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Life is like a minefield - with maiming injury or certain death only a step or two away. Most rush ignorantly through life without caution, discipline, or restraint. They greedily pursue their sinful ambitions, and they fall headlong into dysfunction, destruction, and death. But the perfect, those who fear and obey God, are led safely through this life and into eternal life by their right and wise choices at life's decision points.
Beginning life as helpless infants, men should beg for direction. They should recognize that filling their empty minds with ideas from others who began with empty minds is a formula for disaster. This insanity is verified every day in every place. Men chase folly and rebellion, and they find pain and trouble. Without regard for God or man, they push forward in lust for pleasure and dominance, but end up falling heavily by their own folly.
Who is the perfect? A man who fears God and keeps His commandments! Though he does so imperfectly, the Lord forgives his sins and considers him perfect (Gen 6:9; Job 1:1; Phil 3:15). This man has the guiding restraint in his life of righteous thinking, which keeps him from the self-destruction of the God-rejecting fools around him. His life improves more and more each day, much like the sun ascending to full noon (4:18).
How does the perfect man learn righteousness? He begins with the fear of the Lord, and he adds to that the wise instruction of the Bible and godly counselors. The fear of the Lord is wisdom and light for life (1:7; 9:10; 10:27; 14:27; 19:23; Ps 112:1,3,9). The Bible is the manual for wise and righteous living (22:17-21; Ps 19:7-11; 119:105). Godly counselors are pastors and friends who also fear the Lord (27:9; Jer 3:15; I Sam 23:16).
The wicked love the world's sinful ideas on how to live, received from other fools and their own depraved hearts (12:15; 14:12; 16:25; 21:2). They wander in darkness and fall into traps (4:19; 13:15; 15:19; 22:5). This ignorant and rebellious approach to life causes them to fall under God's judgment and the consequences of sin. Consider addiction, demotion, depression, disease, divorce, drunkenness, and death for a few starters! They do not learn from one generation to the next, as they perpetuate and expand their folly.
The righteous man marries a virtuous woman who fears the Lord, and he lives a tranquil married life. The wicked man marries an odious or whorish woman, and he lives in marital hell or is divorced with torment and trouble chasing him all his life. The perfect man is in a good way, and the wicked man falls by his own wickedness. He chose his wife based on looks and seduction, and he paid a terrible price on his way to the grave.
How far will the righteousness of the perfect take him? All the way to heaven! No man enters heaven based on his own righteousness, but every righteous man knows heaven is his destination (Is 64:6; II Tim 4:7-8; Tit 3:5; Heb 11:4). The strait gate and narrow way that promises life now and in the next world is the road of righteousness, though only a few find it, for the majority of men move together toward destruction (Matt 7:13-14).
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