From Mind to Heart

As a young Christian, I was trying to walk with the Lord, but I slowly began hanging around my old friends. I started to see things through their eyes and with their values, and it wasn’t long before I began to live as they lived.

Soon I was sitting “in the seat of the scornful” and looking down my nose at those so-called narrow-minded, bigoted, unintelligent Christians. I began to scorn them. Thank God that He stopped me and brought me back.

We need to be very careful. At the beginning of Psalm 1, we are warned about what the godly person should not be doing. Then in verse 2, the same person is described in a positive way: “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night” (verse 2 NKJV).

The Hebrew poet who composed this psalm deliberately gives us a parallel. The writer throws us a curveball here to capture our attention. That one bold statement, simple and concise, is there for a reason: to capture our attention, to stop us right where we are.

If we ponder why the writer might have done this in this style, maybe it’s because that one statement captures everything. If your delight is in the law of the Lord, if you meditate on it day and night, then you will walk in the counsel of the righteous. You will stand in the way of the godly. You will sit in the seat of the praising.

Sooner or later, as we allow that counsel and His Word to enter our hearts, not just our minds, it will move our emotions to the point of delight. And delighting in His Word will shape your life and conform you into the image of Christ.