Postures

In my daily Bible reading, I started the Psalms this morning. Psalm 1 has always been a favorite, but this morning, like so many times when one is dealing with the living Word, it pierced my heart, even though I have read it dozens of times. The first three verses read like this:

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. He is like a treeplanted 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 1:1-3)

I kept coming back to verse one and asking myself, what is my posture? How do I walk, stand, and sit. Do I live out my life in ways that would make it appear that I am following the counsel of the world? Do I affirm those who live lives offensive to God that they are fine doing what they are doing? Do I join in the chorus of those who spend much of their time in mockery of others?

On the first two, I think I do reasonably well, but the third I had to confess to the Lord that I do too often. I am not one to openly mock someone to their face. I would never heckle someone at a meeting or speak derisively about someone in public. Yet, I am not innocent. I confess to sometimes having mocking thoughts about people who do things differently than I would or do what I consider to be stupid things (like not using turn signals). And I may pass those thoughts along to one or two people as funny or “you won’t believe this” stories. This morning, I was convicted about where I sometimes sit and confessed it to the Lord, who promises to forgive us and purify us from all unrighteousness. (I John 1:9)

It is so easy to fall into one of these postures, even as followers of Jesus. That is why it is so essential to put into practice what follows verse one: meditating on God’s Word throughout our daily lives. His Word provides the correction we need when we are walking, standing, or sitting in ways unbecoming of the godly. The problem for so many is they spend almost no time reading the Word, let alone thinking deeply about it and how it applies to their lives. Often there is no delight, but rather loathing or a sense of obligation. 

If we are to flourish spiritually like a well-watered fruit tree, we must plant ourselves deeply in the Word of God and follow its teaching. As Paul wrote to Timothy, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (II Timothy 3:16-17) It is difficult enough to avoid bad postures even when we are regularly in the Word; however, it is almost impossible when we rarely spend any time reading it or contemplating about what it says. And there is no suitable substitute. Listening to sermons is not the same as reading and meditating on the Scriptures. Even being a part of a small group Bible study or a Sunday School class is not an alternative for personal time reading and meditating on the written Word. 

If we are to be witnesses to the those around us by having godly postures in our lives, then we must plant ourselves deep in the Word of God, absorbing the living water it offers us. In doing so, our postures will grow more godly, our lives will produce spiritual fruit, and we will not wither regardless of the circumstances around us.

© Jim Musser 2021 All Scripture references are from the New International Version, 2011.