Word for the Weekend

I finished my study of the Harmony of the Gospels yesterday and today I begin looking at the Psalms in my quiet time. I wanted to share with you Psalm One.

1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. 4 The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. 5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. 6 For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

I have shared the whole Psalm here but I'd like to look mostly at verses one through three. Verse one gives us a lesson in how to live. The first lesson is we will be blessed if we don't seek counsel, or advice, from the ungodly, or unbelievers. The opposite of seeking advice from unbelievers is seeking advice from believers. Thus, we need to be sure that whenever we are looking for advice on a life situation or problem we need to seek out those trusted believers in our lives who have made wise choices in their own life.

The second lesson verse one gives us is we will be blessed if we don't stand in the way of sinners. While I was seeking the counsel of the Holy Spirit on this line, I took it to mean we should not be around sinners. If we are around people who consistently do not follow the law of the we will soon begin to think it is not such a big deal for us to not follow what the Lord would have us to do.

The last lesson is is close company with the second. It tells us that we will be blessed if we don't sit in the seat of the scornful. The definition of scorn is open dislike or disrespect, according to the Webster Dictionary. This verse, to me, means we will be blessed if we are not disrespectful to others. If we are always complaining or talking about other people in a disrespectful way we are being scornful. Thus, we would be sitting in the seat of the scornful. No one wants to be around someone who acts in that way.

Looking ahead to verse two, we see that the blessed man delights in God's law and meditates, or thinks, on it all the time. He is someone who is always keeping in mind what God would have him to do.

Verse three gives us a view of what the blessed man's life looks like. He is someone who "brings forth fruit", or does great works for the Lord. Also, the verse tells us that, "his leaf also shall not wither," or he never gets tired of doing good works. Lastly, the verse tells us that the blessed man prospers in everything he does. He may not always have things go his way, but they always go God's way and something good comes from everything that God is in.

To sum the first part of this Psalm up, if we seek counsel from believers, keep company with believers, and keep a spirit of respectfulness we will be blessed. Likewise, if we also meditate on God's Word consistently, we will have good works and will not grow weary in those good works.

May Psalm One be like water for your tree and teach you how to live out your life as the Lord would have you to.

Word for the Weekend

Most people whether they be Christian or not have heard of the ten commandments and could even name a few. However, they may not know that Jesus gave us a new commandment that sums up all of the ten commandments. If we obey this one commandment Jesus gave, we will surely obey everything else.

Jesus said:

John 13:34 & 35: A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

John also later wrote about this commandment:

1 John 2:7-11: 7 Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. 8 Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. 9 He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. 10 He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. 11 But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.


Jesus told us that people will know that we believe Him and uphold His characteristics if we love our brother. The term "brother" in this verse basically means everyone. God's children should have love towards all people no matter what they have done. Jesus says to love as He has loved us. Jesus has loved us unconditionally and even laid down his life for us. That is the kind of love we are to have for our fellow people.

John goes on to say in 1 John that if you don't love, you are in darkness (or sin). He also says that the darkness can blind us and make us not know where we are going. If you don't love others and have that sin in your life we can be blinded to even more sins. For example, you have to examine why you may not have Christ's love for someone. Are you jealous of what they have? Are you conventing their possessions? Have they done something hurtful to you? Jesus tells us we have to forgive as He forgave us (Matt 6:12).

Sometimes it is very hard to love someone because they may have hurt us or hurt someone we love more than what would seem forgivable. When we feel like we can never forgive or never love someone we need to ask the Lord to help us love as He loves. Jesus can love through us when we find it difficult.

Remember, how do unbelievers know that we are Christians? It is because of our Christ-like love towards others.