Gimme Three Steps

Had the delightful opportunity yesterday to be part of a new group we’re starting at a senior living center.

We sang, we shared celebrations and concerns, we prayed, and we started studying Scripture together.

We’re on Psalm 1. (Thank you, Pastor Jessica!)

I love it.

Verse 1 has a real clear progression, one which some of us know all too well —

Blessed is the person who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand with sinners or sit in the company of scoffers

— Psalm 1:1

Catch the verbs there?

Walk…stand…sit.

That’s how it works, isn’t it? We walk or run around with bad influences. Then we slow down and stand around with them. Next thing we know, we’re so comfortable with them that we sit down and feel right at home with them.

This is not for you.

Blessed is the person who does not do these things, right?

Then that’s the group to be in.

So the next time you and I catch ourselves starting to join the scoffers who like to be scornfully derisive, let’s reverse that process: time to go from where we sit, so stand up and walk away.

And be blessed.