While reading Psalms 1:1, I became curious about how various translations read. I like this one from The New Century version.

Psalms 1:1, “Happy are those who don’t listen to the wicked, who don’t go where sinners go, who don’t do what evil people do. They love the Lord’s teachings, and they think about those teachings day and night.”

I know people who seem to be very unhappy being a Christian. They dwell on what they can’t do, and in their hearts, they are still addicted to the sins of the flesh. Some of those things are not only spiritually destructive, but also physically destructive. They live in bondage, not freedom.

In a recent teaching session, I expressed the difference between salvation and sanctification like this. Salvation affects me outwardly. I don’t murder, steal, commit adultery, live an immoral lifestyle, and a host of other things that are easily seen by what we do.

Sanctification, on the other hand, affects me inwardly. I don’t want to kill, steal, commit adultery, or live an immoral lifestyle. My heart has changed, bringing with it a deep, settled peace that I am no longer bound by those things.

The King James Version uses the phrase “who does not walk,” rather than who does not go. Rather than walking in the ways of the wicked, we walk in the path of righteousness.

In Galatians 5, after a long list of the sins of the flesh, verses 24 and 25 say, “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.”

Our desires are determined by where we live. Do we live addicted to the flesh, or do we live in the spirit? If we walk in the way of the wicked, stand proudly with sinners, and sit submissively among mockers, we will be just like them, and we will not enjoy the happiness that God wants for us.

I’m happy not being a sinner!!