Two paths, final analysis

The Israelites wrote psalms as both poetry and songs to be sung.  Putting concepts into word pictures and to music are a great way to both express ourselves and help us remember truths.  Even today, Christians still use this art form in order to engage God and teach His truths. 

We’ve learned a lot by looking at and thinking through the lyrics of Psalm 1.  But now, let’s put it all together:

Psalm 1:1-5
How happy is the one who does not
walk in the advice of the wicked or
stand in the pathway with sinners or
sit in the company of mockers!

Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction,
and he meditates on it day and night.

He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams
that bears its fruit in its season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.

The wicked are not like this;
instead they are like chaff that the wind blows away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand up in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

The final verse sums up the entire psalm:

Psalm 1:6
For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.

The way of the wicked leads to ruin because the Lord does not watch over it.  Multiple translations render the Lord watches over the way of the righteous as “the Lord knows the way of the righteous”.  The NET Bible translation really strikes a chord with me: “the Lord guards the way of the righteous”.

How comforting it is to know that someone has your back!  Flying solo means you are exposed in some area because you cannot manage or see everything going on around you.  Having a partner or someone who provides supportive oversight will give you confidence to forge ahead with the task at hand.  This confidence comes from knowing that someone else will warn you of potential issues, fight off problems so you don’t have to, and back you up when someone else challenges your work.  How much more inspiring is it when the Lord is the one who is watching over you!  He is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good…and as we walk the way of the righteous, the way He designed us: He’s got our back.

But it is possible for us Christians to take a different route, to walk a different path than the one God desires.  However, the result of walking through life without God’s support because we ignored His Word ends in just one place: ruin.

That’s not a word we typically dwell on.  Ruin isn’t something we like to think about.  If we consider what a ruined life looks like, we quickly become uncomfortable.  And for good reason…here’s the definition:

ruin – destroyed, to be lost, i.e. – be in a state of hopelessness, lacking confidence in a future situation. |to wander away, i.e. – lose oneself/by implication, to perish and not escape or surely be undone or have no way to flee

A ruined life is one that is wasted, stuck, hopeless, and of our own doing because of the choices we made.  At the end of our earthly life, there will be no way to fix it, escape it, or avoid it.  A ruined life is self-inflicted and cannot be undone.

The way of the wicked leads to ruin because it runs antithetical to God’s design and His path.  How could it lead to anything else?  When everything is made good because it was made for/by/through Him, there is no other alternative “good” ending if we’re not on the Lord’s path.

Solomon also wrote about this theme in the book of Proverbs.  Here’s just one example of when he notes the contrast between the path of the righteous vs the way of the wicked:

Proverbs 4:18-19
The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn,
shining brighter and brighter until midday.
But the way of the wicked is like the darkest gloom;
they don’t know what makes them stumble.

If we want to be the happy and prosperous person in Psalm 1, we need to abide in God’s Word and God’s Word needs to abide in us.  That is the only path that leads to God’s approval of a life well-lived.  All other paths lead to ruin.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

What's next?

After we become convinced that Jesus is who He claims to be – the Son of God and God the Son…

After we believe Him when He claims that only He can give eternal life, and that He gives it to all who will receive it…

What’s next?
What do I do with this new life that Jesus has given me?

As we continue through the beginning of Paul’s letter to the believers in Colossae, we find that Paul is dealing directly with these questions.  Throughout the rest of the letter, he will continue to discuss the practical outflowing of our relationship with Jesus; however, Paul mentions some specific ideas early on that are worth taking a closer look into.

Read these verses and look for what Paul sees as our motivation for the way believers should approach their day-to-day lives:

Colossians 1:9-10
For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you.  We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God.

While Paul does say he desires that the Colossians may walk worthy of the Lord, the believers’ aim in doing so is found in the next four words.  Once we are adopted into God’s family, our next step is to obtain Jesus’ approval.  Our aim is to be fully pleasing to Him.

If we balk at that idea, think back to your own childhood.  After becoming aware of our place in within our family, we begin to find ways to win the approval of our parents.  Not to keep our place in the family; no, that’s never in question.  Rather, we want to make them proud – by doing things like them, by doing things for them, or by doing things with them. 

It didn’t matter if we had good parents or bad parents – we still made every effort to “do good” in their eyes.  When we’re completely honest with ourselves, we are still driven by those same desires all the way through our adult lives.

Immediately after he states our aim as children of God – to be fully pleasing to Him – Paul also tells the Colossians how they are going to go about doing it.  The way we make Jesus proud of us, the way we get the “Good job!” from the King of Kings, is to be bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God.

Every good thing we do should bear fruit or provide evidence that we are believers in Jesus for eternal life; that we have become part of God’s family.  And just as a young child matures and learns more about his or her father, we also grow in the knowledge of God.  We learn who He is and what He is like, which then feeds back into how we represent Jesus in our daily actions.

And certainly, the Colossians would have noted that Paul had used the same phrases – bearing fruit and growing – just a few sentences earlier.  When Paul described how God’s good news, the gospel message about Jesus, was reaching the world, he said:

Colossians 1:6
It is bearing fruit and growing all over the world, just as it has among you since the day you heard it and recognized God’s grace in the truth.

So the Colossians (and us) have a practical example from our Father in heaven.  When we live out the gospel message, we bear fruit and show the world who Jesus is.  When we help spread the good news, we will also grow in the knowledge of God.  

Ultimately, we are imitating our Father in heaven by participating in spreading the good news of Jesus…we’re doing these things like Him, we’re doing these things for Him, and we’re doing these things with Him…which is fully pleasing to Him.

Live the gospel, and fully please our Savior and Lord.

Keep Pressing,
Ken