Creed Affects Our Conduct - Doctrine Influences Our Deeds - Belief Determines Our Behaviour

One of my most treasured items currently is a card I received from family members at my last birthday. It has an ornate tree on the front and inside it are the words of Psalm 1 from the old King James Version. The card has pride of place on my window sill at work where I can frequently reflect on its meaning. The first psalm is clearly in the group of my favourites-and for so many reasons. But recently I was awoken with thought in my mind toward the importance of inputs in life; and there are two sorts of inputs I believe this psalm refers to.

Counsel/Way/Presence of the Godly & Love of His Word (vv. 1-2) As the first and second verses ascribe to the negative and positive, we're to be careful who we spend lots of time with. It seems a device of first up command in wisdom literature tradition--something a young man or woman needs to be aware of. We must seek the consistent council/counsel/way of the godly persons in our midst. There are various ways the parallelism of the lines of this first verse could be viewed. Progression is favoured: the godly person walks; they see the godly and stand--having gotten his/her attention; then, they sit in "council" with them. (Though negatively set, I've tried to transpose it positively.)

He writes His Gospel so that we might believe and have life, and so that we can be drawn closer to Jesus down through the ages, and so that we may know without any doubt Who Jesus Christ was and Who Jesus Christ is; the Son of God and God the Son, the Saviour, the Lord, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords; God and Man. We need all of these words and phrases.

For the person who has been hurt many times in life. Everyone carries some hurt in one way or another. Life is never perfect, and so you are bound to experience something painful at some point in your life. When you do, sometimes it can be hard to recover. Spiritual healing is needed so that you can move on, because in order to forgive the people you have wronged you, you may first need to forgive yourself.

(Conditional on Input 1) God's Provision of Water, Feeding the Tree of Life (v. 3) The 'tree of life' is mentioned variously throughout the Bible and importantly it's a bookend at both ends in Genesis and Revelation. Pivotally, it's also alluded to no less than four times in Proverbs. But, this 'tree of life' is not just about source--where we go to. Our lives are metaphors of plant life. Whether we wither and slowly die or we grow and thrive depends on input one. God has set up the conditions for us to realise the divine prophesy in our lives provided we do this. He orders the flow of our lives hence; in the presence of water our burgeoning fruit thrives--ready for a season that yet awaits.

INPUT 1 + INPUT 2 = OUTCOME (A Blessed, Righteous Life) Verses 3-6 speak of 'the effect,' given the first two verses are adhered to. This is the prophesy we need to believe in when we're at the sharp end of things. And though it may appear simplistic, we're to rise in faith to meet God's promise. In faith alone we're blessed. It can be no other way.