Psalm 1
Which Way Will YOU Go?
This first Psalm gives us two ways to lead life: the way of the sinner, and the way of the righteous. A good Way that gives us hope, happiness, and purpose is contrasted to a bad way that leads to self-destruction, sadness, and hopelessness; so which do we choose to pursue? God calls us to pursue godly piety, a response we make from God's revealed precepts. Because His Word contains the directives for a life of real meaning and purpose, we can make good decisions and lead a godly life. This enables us to honor God and lead a healthy and well balanced life because we are making those good decisions from His precepts. Then we will receive His blessedness. God bluntly tells us the godly will prosper in Him and in life and the wicked will be scorned in life and judged in death. This is all about what we choose to do and be in life that affects our future here and in eternity and those around us too. It may seem that only the most dimwitted person would choose the ungodly life, but the reality is that most will choose this way, even those who claim Christ as Lord. God desires us to love the significant life—a life that is pleasing, fruitful, faithful, purposeful, a life of distinction, value, and righteousness! He is hurt and disappointed when we choose to sin or hang with bad people and allow them to influence us. Yet, He does not force us to the righteous life. We have the choice to go our way or His Way, to live with honor and renounce sin or to indulge in sin and be dishonorable to self, others, and God. But beware! We will be held to account for our actions and decisions!
The bottom line in the Psalms is that the choice of how to live your life is yours; you have the choice to be blessed, as a tree nourished by His Living Water (John 7:37-39) or perish as the chaff that is worthless and blows away (Matt. 3:12; 10:34-39; 13:47-50). You can have the high road or skid row; to be blessed or seek self destruction; to be in Him or to be away from Him! How will you now live? God has given you the abundant life, but you still have to reach for it and apply it by faith and obedience. The godly will always choose to allow God to direct their lives. He charts our course; it is the best course and plan conceivable, far beyond any hope we could have on our own. So, allow yourself to be directed by the God and Creator of the universe—not your feeble ways! Make God's Word a significant part of your life so you are infused with His Truth, and so the Spirit is firm and impacting in you! Then, you can impact others with His character and precepts.
posted by Richard @ 11:55 AM
1 comments
1 Comments:
In my own experience, righteousness doesn't produce relationship; rather, relationship produces righteousness. The problem is that Christians use the scriptures as their standard by which they judge who is righteous and we've ended up with a New Testament form of legalism.
It is my contention that until we understand how much God loves us and love Him in return, we're not going to live a truly righteous life. We've got a lot of Christians faking it and hoping God will give them credit for trying, but most of our 'trying' is driving people away from the church.
In-you-face-Christians are a stumbling block to Christ. Asking people glib questions such as "Do you know where you'll spend eternity if you were to die this instant" is not witnessing. A believer with a real relationship with Christ doesn't put people on the defensive. This sort of evangelism leaves a person wondering if they're doing enough to win God's approval.
Before we try to understand the God of the Old Testament, we need to understand Jesus and why He came; there is no righteousness outside of what He performs in and through us.
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