Tuesday, December 16, 2008

hi guys. im starting on a study on the bible, so i will try to post some of the things that i have learnt so that you too can learn with me (:

God is just awesome in his word. may you all be excited and devoted to discovering it.

love,
ming


PSALMS 1

verse 1

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.

paraphrase: joyful and well is a person who is not influenced by those who do evil, is not open to the way darkness and is not proud and haughty.

to be blessed we must not be influenced by those who do evil.
this means that, we must be able to stand firm even in the presence of worldly influences. some of these influences that are rampant among us now are those of anger, drunkeness, sexual immorality, gossip, materialism and rebelliousness.

anger: have we been angry at those who skive when doing group work? have we been angry at our parents for not giving us all that we want? have we been angry at ourselves for the way we behave at times? have we been angry with God for not providing?

drunkeness: do we seek highs from substances such as alcohol, tobacco or even drugs? do we allow such substances to take over our consciousness?

sexual immorality: do we condone immoral television? even though its PG doesnt mean it is acceptable to God, BY THE WAY. do we entertain thoughts that are displeasing to God? are we involved in pre-marrital sex, or any sexual activity that we know is wrong?

gossip: do we speak ill of others, be it true or false, so as to de-fame him/her? do we make up stories of people so as to ruin their reputation? do we listen to gossip and allow it to impact our impressions of the people involved?

materialism: do we weigh material well being above spiritual well being? do we make friends who are rich, just because they are rich? do we try to win friends over by material means? do we judge people by the way they dress or the cars they have? do we desire material things more than we desire God?

rebelliousness: are we disrespectful to authority? do we allow ourselves to participate in acts of rebellion? do we speak ill of our leaders/teachers because we do not like them? do we intentionally not comply with their instructions to anger them? do we try to cheat them?

check yourselves. im in many of these categories sadly. but there is hope, God came that we may become more than conquerors!

are we walking in the counsel of the wicked today without even knowing it? are we letting the world influence us? remember, not all things that the world says is okay, is really okay. we must always head back to the word of God to find that out.

i'll continue on the rest of verse one another day (: