Purpose – Proverbs 17:24

WritingExplained.org explains the origin of the proverb, “The grass is always greener on the other side”:

A Latin proverb cited by Erasmus of Rotterdam was translated into English by Richard Taverner in 1545, as:  “The corne in an other mans ground semeth euer more fertyll and plentifull then doth oure own.” The poet Ovid takes this further, saying in his “Art of Love” (1 BC) that “the harvest is always richer in another man’s field.”  As far as modern English sources, this idiom has been popular since at least the early 1900’s, evidenced by the fact that a song recorded in 1924 by Raymond B. Egan and Richard A. Whiting carried its wording, “The Grass is Always Greener in the Other Fellow’s Yard.”

“This idiom,” they write, “encapsulates the human quality of always wanting something different than what you have.”

The discerning sets his face toward wisdom,

but the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth. (Proverbs 17:24, ESV)

This proverb is very similar in intent to, “The grass is always greener on the other side.”  But it adds a spiritual dimension that we desperately need.  It is not enough to simply expose the folly of this belief, or of envy in general.  We need something greater to take its place.

There is a tendency in the one whose life is not anchored in Jesus Christ to believe that what is better and what is fulfilling is “out there,” that purpose is found in what is exotic to where you are now.  We see it a little bit in those who take short term trips to other cultures and become enamored with those cultures and prefer them to their own.  It is certainly okay to prefer one culture over another but it is not wise to think that there is any culture that is not equally affected by the darkness of human sin.

But when one makes wisdom the frontier for which one pushes, every place on earth becomes a place to find purpose.  Righteousness and godliness are needed everywhere and an introduction to the Lord is the door through which people, upon entering, may find their greatest purpose explained.