![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/757\/2017\/05\/fqxmgkyxqfu-clark-young.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Psalm 1 is often my go to piece of Scripture. I tend to flip the pages to its six verses not only when I\u2019m being fickle about which Scripture to read before bed, but when I\u2019m clueless about life \u2013 when I don\u2019t know what the next right step is, or if I have anxiety as to where any next step might lead me in the future.<\/span><\/p>\n So much about the Christian life seems to be trying to figure out God\u2019s will. Which job to take. Where to move. If we should move. Children are expected to know what they want to be when they grow up by the time they\u2019re eighteen, which includes which college to attend, how to fund their tuition, and on and on it goes with decision after decision \u2026 until life ends.<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s not every day we make decisions on careers or which person to marry. But if we\u2019re not making big decisions, we\u2019re making small ones. Take the grocery store for example. Or Wal-Mart \u2013 my favorite store (*cough, cough). You walk in, and you just need to pick up about twenty items, but in doing so, you\u2019ll come across nine hundred and twenty three choices available to you. Want peanut butter? Okay, we\u2019ve got Jiffy, Peter Pan, Skippy, organic, non-organic, crunchy, smooth, and <\/span>oh, oh, oh<\/span><\/i>, get this \u2013 peanut butter and jelly together in one jar! Also, are you sure you want <\/span>peanut<\/span><\/i> butter, Miss? Because we also have Nutella, and macadamia butter, cashew butter, almond butter, and sunflower butter.<\/span><\/p>\n See what I mean? With one item, you\u2019ve had to choose from at least thirteen different varieties. So by the time you leave, you\u2019re not only sick of the sight of food, you sincerely wish you lived in the olden days before any butter except fresh cow butter was a thing.<\/span><\/p>\n Anyway, what\u2019s a person to do when there are so many decisions to make, and said person\u2019s emotions tend to be about as stable as the boat Jonah was on before his shipmates figured out he was the source of their turbulent times and threw him overboard?<\/span><\/p>\n I think the answer lies in knowing that the decisions we make about the everyday-ness of life, even the bigger decisions about who to marry and where to live, are not the biggest decisions in life after all. And which peanut butter brand we eat certainly has very little, if any, eternal consequence. The biggest decisions in life are spiritual. Whether we reject God and His son, Jesus Christ. Or whether we go our own way. It\u2019s about who we follow. Who we serve. Who we love. Who we <\/span>believe.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Society would tell us that our worth is wrapped up in our professions (this is especially true for women these days). Or maybe our spouse\u2019s profession or how well our kids behave. Or whether we have a boat, fancy motorcycle, or just a Volkswagen Bug that sputters down the street sounding as though someone is belting out in a bass voice \u201cPotato, potato, potato \u2026.\u201d It\u2019s silly sometimes the way we get ourselves into the trap of thinking what we do, who we know, or what we have is who we are or how much we\u2019re worth.<\/span><\/p>\n Scripture tells us that a Christian\u2019s worth is in He who is able to do far more abundantly that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us. That is, the power of Jesus. Because Jesus is innocent, the Father looks upon us as innocent. Because Jesus will live forever, we will live forever. Ephesians 1 talks about all the spiritual gifts that are ours in and through Christ \u2013 and that is where we get our worth. Jesus. Not in a sparkling or sputtering car, a mate who will supposedly make us happy, or a profession that will hopefully earn us millions.<\/span><\/p>\n What we are and what we do matters. I\u2019m not saying we should be couch potatoes and live off the government when we are perfectly capable of being a productive member of society. Scripture says a man who does not work shall not eat. It\u2019s just that what we do for work isn\u2019t so much the point. It\u2019s who we rely on throughout the day, the week, the years, to carry us through and give us the steadiness of heart needed to fully enjoy the blessings of life, and endure the hardness and difficulties of the world.<\/span><\/p>\n Psalm 1 talks much about who we keep company with. It <\/span>does <\/span><\/i>matter who we marry, and what friends we choose at college, etc. But paranoia about the specifics of life do not in any way help us. Can God not use the professors at Liberty University just as well as He could use the professors at Harvard or a Community College? Can He not sanctify you through your marriage relationship whether you marry Ron, Dick, or Harry?<\/span><\/p>\n One thing I\u2019ve learned just by living up toward fifty years now:<\/span><\/p>\n The people we hang with, the people we are instructed by, and the people we marry and share blood lines with are just that: people. It is important whether we walk in the counsel of the wicked, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of scoffers. But \u2013 if our delight is in the law of the Lord, and if on His law we meditate day and night? Specifics of life won\u2019t knock us down, and neither will difficult people (like ourselves). We will be stable. And like a tree, planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season and whose leaf does not wither, <\/span>we will prosper.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n This is not license for a believer to marry an unbeliever, for married men to hang with prostitutes, go to the bar so we can \u201cevangelize\u201d and so on. God clearly instructs us to not be unequally yoked with our spouse, to not be drunk with wine, and to, when we are tempted with any sin \u2013 but especially sexual sin \u2013 <\/span>run! <\/span><\/i>The point is: make His law, His statues, and His Person your delight. Above all, <\/span>know<\/span><\/i> Him. Serve Him. Love Him. Obey Him.<\/span><\/p>\n Psalm 1 says if we do, we will prosper. Maybe not monetarily. Maybe not social status wise. But in God\u2019s eyes, and in the depths of our souls, we will be immovable. The storms of life will come and go. Big and small decisions will always need to be made, until our last breath. But if we\u2019re grounded in His law, we\u2019ll be like a tree, planted by the waters. We will be deeply rooted, held fast by the consumption of Living Water.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 Psalm 1 is often my go to piece of Scripture. I tend to flip the pages to its six verses not only when I\u2019m being fickle about which Scripture to read before bed, but when I\u2019m clueless about life \u2013 when I don\u2019t know what the next right step is, or if I have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2920,"featured_media":542,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[584,581,578,575,572,237],"class_list":["post-2018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-decision-making","tag-decisions","tag-emotions","tag-prospering","tag-psalm-1","tag-truth"],"yoast_head":"\n