By Pastor Don Schatz

Distinguishing ‘fun’ From ‘Blessed’

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud Link

“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;”
Psalm 1:1 English Standard Version

Everyone likes otters, right?  They are cute.  They seem to love to play.  They are entertaining.  Watching them brings a smile to one’s face.  Perspective is everything.  If you are a boat owner, with your boat moored at a marina, you don’t like otters.  They can chew your boat lines.  They almost always poop on your boat.  They are pests and can do real damage to your boat.

I remember as a kid having to learn that those ‘fun seeming’ kids were not always the right ones with whom to hang out.  Beauty, fun and alluring can be only skin deep.  The Book of Psalms begins with a “didactic” Psalm.  It teaches us a significant truth.  Be careful with whom you hang out.  There is a clever literary progression:  first, one just sidles over and walks along; next one stops and chats, becoming more familiar leading to the danger of “owning” a troubled value system; finally, one sits down with them.  From walking, to standing, to sitting, it is a progression of familiarity and identity.

“Danger, Will Robinson!” King David seems to warn in this first verse of the Book of Psalms.  Before you sing and praise and picture the coming Messiah, consider with whom you walk, or stand, or sit.  Are you aware?  Be aware!  Be concerned.  Blessed.

The truly Blessed, the righteous one walks the paths of Eden with the Lord.  The truly Blessed stands firmly with the Lord and his Gospel of forgiveness, mercy and grace.  The truly Blessed sits with the Lord, and so proclaims with whom she identifies and from whom she obtains her identity.

Or, as David put it, “He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.  In all that he does, he prospers.” (Psalm 1:3).  The question of the day:  Where are we sitting?

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado