Christopher’s Substack
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Pastor Chris White says to all of you: HELLO MY FRIENDS. May the Lord bless you today.
HOLA MIS AMIGOS. Que el Señor los bendiga.
From the very first pages of Scripture, God presents humanity with a choice. Two trees. Two paths. Two ways of living.
One way leads to life, communion, and blessing.
The other promises autonomy and delivers chaos—with a receipt marked death.
Psalm 1 brings that ancient choice right into our daily lives. It doesn’t shout. It doesn’t argue. It simply sets two roads in front of us and says, Choose wisely.
Jesus does the same thing in the Sermon on the Mount. There’s a wide road—easy, crowded, well-lit—and it leads to destruction. Then there’s a narrow way—less traveled, less flashy, but alive (Matthew 7:13–14).
Same message. Different century.
How Drift Actually Happens
Psalm 1 describes the way of unbelief with three verbs that feel uncomfortably familiar:
- Walk — adopting ungodly ways of thinking
- Stand — participating in sinful behavior
- Sit — settling into hardened cynicism toward God
Notice the progression. No one wakes up one morning and says, “Today I will become spiritually calloused and hostile toward God.” That would at least be efficient.
Instead, it starts with thoughts.
Thoughts linger long enough to shape actions.
Actions practiced long enough become attitudes.
Eventually, we’re not just doing something—we’re settled there.
Psalm 1 is painfully honest about this: we are shaped by what we regularly listen to. If our steady diet is the counsel, imagination, and values of a fallen world, we shouldn’t be surprised when we start sounding like it.
Environment matters. Input matters. Your soul is not immune to influence.
The Blessed Life Isn’t Complicated—It’s Attentive
The “blessed” person in Psalm 1 doesn’t have secret knowledge or superhuman discipline. They delight in “the law of the LORD”—that is, God’s instruction, God’s revealed wisdom.
They meditate on it.
Meditation here isn’t emptying the mind. It’s more like chewing slowly. Turning Scripture over and over in the mind. Letting it sink in. Asking honest questions like:
- What’s going on in my heart right now?
- Why do I resist this command?
- What would faithfulness look like in this relationship?
This kind of thinking reforms the inner life. Paul says the same thing in Philippians 4:8—focus your attention on what is true, good, and worthy of praise.
What we consistently think about eventually shapes who we become. No shortcuts. No exceptions.
Trees, Water, and Why Your Soul Is Thirsty
Psalm 1 gives us one of Scripture’s most beautiful images: a tree planted by streams of water.
Not rain-dependent.
Not weather-anxious.
Not fragile.
This tree has three qualities worth wanting:
Stability – It stands through storms because it’s rooted.
Nourishment – Its life doesn’t rise and fall with circumstances.
Fruitfulness – It produces something that blesses others.
Trees don’t usually die from dramatic events. They decline because they lack water. Slowly. Quietly. Predictably.
Souls work the same way.
Chaff: Light, Loud, and Gone
The alternative path isn’t neutral. Psalm 1 calls it chaff—weightless, rootless, useless and easily blown away.
Chaff looks impressive in motion but has no staying power. It can’t endure pressure because it isn’t anchored to anything real.
A life disconnected from God may feel free, but it lacks substance and is rooted in nothing more than the brief perspective of a culture constantly changing. Eventually, it doesn’t stand.
Two Ways. Still the Same Choice.
Psalm 1 ends where it began: with two paths.
God knows the way of the righteous.
The way of the wicked leads to ruin.
And yet, God does not coerce. He dignifies us with choice—the same choice humanity faced in Eden. Life or death. Trust or autonomy. Rootedness or drift.
So What Do We Do?
1. Tend the Mind (Romans 12:2)
Conformity to the world happens automatically. Transformation does not.
Renewal takes intention. Scripture meditation. Thoughtful reflection. Letting God’s voice outweigh the rest of the noise.
Think of it like gardening. If you don’t tend the soil, something will still grow—it just won’t be what you want.
2. Help the Soul-Weary with Truth
When people are wounded in mind or spirit, the problem is rarely just emotional. Often, something has gone wrong at the level of belief. I would hasten to add that Satan, the enemy of every soul, is more than happy to whisper additional errors especially if a person is feeling overwhelmed with troubles.
Our task isn’t to offer clever opinions. It’s to bring God’s truth to bear gently—truth that heals, reorients, and restores.
God’s Word, lovingly applied, still gives life, hope and meaning.
Two paths.
One tree or the other.
Still the same invitation.
Choose wisely. Choose life.
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