Heart Matters: The First Verse of Psalms Applied in our Digital World

The books of Psalms talks a lot about our hearts. We cannot easily and quickly change what we want, feel, and desire at will, like flipping a light switch.  But over time we can shape our hearts by God’s grace.  One key to gaining a good, strong, wise heart is found in the very first verse of Psalms:

NIV Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,

At first you might think you are already doing this well. And perhaps you are.  But I would like to suggest that in our modern world there are ways in which we sit around with wicked, sinful people which did not exist when the Psalms were written.

We cannot always control who we are around.  Sometimes our work and daily activities involve being around sinful people and sinful influences.  The Bible recognizes this and is practical about it:

NIV 1 Corinthians 5:9-10 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people--not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.

And of course there are times that we “hang out with sinners” in order to share God’s love and truth with them:

NIV Matthew 9:11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"

I’ve heard people misuse this verse to justify situations where they were not really ministering or witnessing. Nevertheless, if done with care and for the right reasons, there are times when we should “hang out with sinners” and other times when we honestly can’t avoid it.

I think the type of situation which the Psalmist had in mind when he wrote Psalm 1:1 is a situation where we are unnecessarily opening ourselves up to sinful influence from others.

Perhaps the most common way Christians do this today is by hanging out with their TVs or secular music.  Most of the people producing this stuff are not godly, and the influence is not godly.  So if we passively absorb the latest TV shows (many of them, anyways) aren’t we sitting with the sinful?

So one important way to guard and shape our hearts is to avoid taking in these sinful influences, whether they arrive in person or through digital media.  In the case of TV and secular music, we certainly are not ministering to the people we are listening to.  The influence goes all one way, from Hollywood into your heart.

But we need to go on to read the second verse in Psalms:

Psalm 1:2 but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night.

It’s not just what we avoid that’s important.  It’s what we put in!  When we meditate constantly on God’s Word, our hearts are transformed and we are blessed.  We can do this in many ways:

Just reading the Bible.

Studying the Bible ourselves or in a group.

Listening to Bible based sermons.

Listening to and singing Bible based songs.

Memorizing Scripture.

Talking about the Bible with a friend.

When we avoid evil influences and instead constantly think about God’s truth, the results are wonderful:

Psalm 1:3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither-- whatever they do prospers.

Hebrews 13:16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others . . .