If you walk into a grocery store and get to the cereal aisle, you have plenty of options to choose from: Rice Krispies, Cheerios, Special K, Lucky Charms, Cap'n Crunch, etc.
If you decide to buy a car, you again have plenty of options to choose from. You have plenty of car manufacturers to choose from: Ford, Chevy, Nissan, Toyota, Hyundai, etc.
We who live in North America like choices and we have plenty of choices when it comes to food, clothing and shelter, and everything in between. But when it comes to our spiritual life, our eternal life, there are only two choices, there are only two options.
Option No. 1: to walk in the narrow way or the blessed way as Jesus describes it. The blessed way is to walk according to God’s word, to walk in the fear of the Lord that leads to eternal life. Walking in the blessed way results in having a blessed life both in this life and in the life to come.
Option No. 2: to walk in the broad way. The broad way is to walk according to your own sinful desires, to walk in rebellion against God and his word that results in misery and eternal damnation of the soul.
Psalm 1 lays out these two options clearly before our eyes. And God calls us to walk in the narrow way that brings true blessings both in this life and in the life to come.
We will focus on learning about option No. 1: the narrow or the blessed way in this article. Verses 1-2 of Psalm 1 describes the blessed way. “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.”
The blessed way consists of doing two things. The blessed man who walks in the blessed way does two things. Verse 1 gives us the negative and Verse 2 gives us the positive.
In Verse 1 the blessed man avoids certain things. In Verse 2 the blessed man does certain things.
Verse 1 is not saying that we avoid contact with unbelievers. If that were the case, Jesus would not have eaten with sinners and tax collectors or talked with the Gentiles. Rather we, by the grace of God the Father, refuse to choose their way of life, refuse to practice a lifestyle that centers on self instead of God, refuse to participate with them in things that displease God.
Verse 2 is saying we, by the power of God the Holy Spirit, delight in God’s word by being in the word, by meditating on his word day and night.
If you are a Christian, I encourage you to press on and continue to walk in the blessed way.
If not, I encourage you to leave your sinful lifestyle and believe in Jesus.
