e-votional
a message to encourage and uplift from College Heights Baptist Church
Wednesday May 20, 2009
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How happy is the man who does not follow the advice of the wicked or take the path of sinners or join a group of mockers! – Psalm 1:1, HCSB
The internet is a marvelous thing. You can push a button, type a few words, and find the answer to almost anything. Have a question? Surf the web and find an answer. It’s incredible the sheer amount of knowledge is right at our fingertips.
I wonder what sort of answers one would get if he typed in “how to be happy?” What sort of advice would the gurus of cyberspace offer? Perhaps some would talk about inner peace and contentment. Others might point to success and advancement. Yet others to the accumulation of possessions and the fulfillment of desires. The psalmist offered some other advice to us regarding happiness. In the first song in his songbook, he quickly gives us three things we need to avoid.
First of all, a happy person is someone who does not follow the advice of the wicked. The word follow literally means “to walk in.” In other words, true happiness isn’t found in the words of those that reject God and His ways. All around us are messages telling us how we should live. Commercials tell us what we should buy and where we should go. The music and entertainment industries tell us how we should manage our relationships and what our ethics should be. Their advice doesn’t lead us to happiness.
Secondly, a happy person doesn’t take the path of sinners. Happiness isn’t always found simply by going with the flow. Remember when you were a child and you got in trouble for something you did. When your parents asked you why you did it, you replied that your friend did it too. And then it came. The mother of all clichés. “If your friend jumped off a bridge, would you jump too?” Just because everyone else is doing it doesn’t make it right, nor does it prove that it ultimately leads to happiness.
Finally, happiness is not found by joining a group of mockers. The phrase is literally, “sit in the seat” of mockers or scoffers. This is the last act of the desperate to validate their actions. They ridicule God, His standards, and all the people who won’t join them in their activity. The terms change through the years, but the idea is consistent. Follow me or your God is a joke. Do what I do or you are fool. Doesn’t sound like the heart of happiness does it?
Life is full of decisions. In the course of making them, it can be easy to follow the crowd. We are easily lured by the siren song of the party and the promise of good times. True happiness, however, is not found down that road. It is found along the narrow way (Matthew 7:14). Hope to see your there.
Pastor Darrell
