October 19, 2020

The first psalm paints a picture of a godly person.  In broad strokes, it speaks of the person’s desire and their character, which develops as a result of their desire.  However, I find it interesting that the first thing mentioned about this person is not that they are enamored with God but that they have rejected the world and its ways.  So it has to be with us; to stand for Christ, we must reject the ways of this world. 

And this rejection of the world’s ways may, of necessity, be moment-by-moment in our lives.  Sin is insidious; it creeps into our lives, when our desire first gets skewed then corrupted.  It is also subtle; we will not recognize it as sin without spiritual discernment and therein lies the danger for those who are not vigilant.  For the Christian, a slow, downward slide may occur if we are not careful.  The path on which this occurs is outlined in the verse above and we need to be aware of the stages of this trail of descent. 

This descent down the world’s path begins with accepting worldly wisdom or counsel.  Such advice/rhetoric can sound very reasonable and wise for, like its originator, on the surface it may be veiled in light (2 Cor 11:14).  However, it is designed to entice you to look away from God and His Ways by appealing to fleshly motives and desires.  Scripture tells us that the Lord’s wisdom is pure, exhibiting the attributes of the Christ-life when put into action, while the World’s wisdom is “earthly, sensual, demonic”, and appeals to pride and base motives (James 3).  Therefore, any counsel we receive either into our lives or on any issue must align with God’s holy word.  If it does not, we need to reject it, no matter how “right” it may appear.  If we do not do this, we may progress down the path to approving and practicing worldly conduct/concepts, which may culminate in a life that has no thought of God unless He is brought to their attention.  As a Christian, I can think of no worse place to be!  And I do believe that we can be there!

However, we do not need to remain in such a state!  Why?  Because the Lord is gracious, merciful, and faithful!  If we find ourselves in such a condition in any area of our lives, we can turn to Him for forgiveness and restoration (1 John 1:9)!  He will position us to once again delight  and meditate on His Word that we might once again stand for Christ!  He will situate us to become:

“. . .like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper. “ Psalm 1:3

Why will God do this?  Because the battle for us was won at the cross where Jesus died!  And in His faithfulness, He will never ever let us go!

All I can say is, “Thank you Lord”! . . . What’s your response to His grace?