What's on your mind?

Yesterday's post (March 5, 2009) dealt with verse one of Psalm 1. Today, I want to pick up with verse 2. Verse 1 tells us a man is blessed (happy, content, fulfilled) when he does not adopt the values of others, start to feel at home with sin, and eventually leads others to engage in sinful practices.

In contrast to this choice, verse 2 says of the blessed man, "But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night." Whereas the other man allowed himself to ponder the potential pleasure his sin might bring, the blessed man loves the Word of God and keeps it on his mind all the time. Now, does this mean he is like a monk, cloistering himself away from everyone and everything so that all he has to do is to pray and meditate. No! This verse refers to one who reads and studies the Bible, and has allowed it to be his guide as he works, plays, and relates to his family and others. Instead of allowing the seed of temptation to take root in his life, he insulates himself from that temptation with knowledge and understanding of God's Word.

Note the result of making the right choice -- the Biblical choice. Verse 3 says:
"He shall be 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.
In brief, this verse tells us that the man's life was firmly rooted and stable, it was productive, and he was successful in every part of his life. The great thing is that this same result is available to every believer who will make the Bible and God's Holy Spirit the basis for living their lives. Be warned -- this verse doesn't mean that you will be rich financially (you might or you might not). Your life, however, will be rich in the most important ways . . . love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. Sound familiar? Yep, these are the fruit of the spirit -- the product of a life filled with God's Spirit and guided by His book.

There is the negative side to this psalm as well. Verses 4-6 read:
"The ungodly are not so,
But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the ungodly shall perish.
No preacher who loves people ever enjoys sharing the message of condemnation upon those who live apart from Christ's redemption. And yet, it is part of God's Word and it must be proclaimed. There will come a day when all will be judged by God, and those who are "in Christ" will be considered the righteous (not due to their own righteousness but because Christ's own righteousness is imputed to those who truly trust in Him), and those not "in Christ" will be cast out of God's presence and into the very real place called Hell where they will experience eternal dying (not just fading into non-existence but going through the terror and horrific pain of dying without end). Again, this isn't something I enjoy writing about. It isn't something God likes either. I Timothy 2:3 says, "For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."

My next post will deal with "the knowledge of truth" and what God has done to make it possible for anyone to be saved from eternal dying.