Only Two Ways To Live

Only Two Ways to Live

Psalm 1:1-6

Rev. Brian Bill

December 28-29, 2024

I want to begin with a question to see how well you know your Bible.

Q: What did Adam say to his wife on December 31st?

A: It’s New Year’s, Eve.

How many of you plan to make a New Year’s Resolution for 2025? I talked to a friend recently who told me he doesn’t make any New Year resolutions because he always breaks them anyway. It’s hard to keep resolutions because they often go in one year and out the other!

According to many surveys, the top resolution for 2025 is saving more money. The next most cited resolutions are to eat healthier, exercise more and lose weight. According to Pew Research Center, half of adults ages 18 to 29 made a New Year’s resolution in 2024, a third of those ages 30 to 49 did so and less than a fourth of adults 50 and older made a resolution. I wonder why we make fewer resolutions the older we get. Maybe it’s because older adults know how hard it is to change.

While I certainly understand the cynicism and skepticism (all too well), the downside is we can end up not making any decisions to move forward spiritually. As Donald Whitney writes, “No one coasts into Christlikeness.”

My guess is you’d like some things to change in 2025. Some time ago, I came across a very helpful post entitled, “Don’t Just Make a Resolution; Make a Habit” by Joe Carter. I’ve shared it before, but it bears repeating.

“…every year I’m unable to keep the resolve in my resolutions...this year I’m trying something different. Instead of just making new resolutions, I intend to make new habits. A habit is a recurrent, often unconscious pattern of behavior acquired through frequent repetition...habits drive our behavior, which in turn forms our character. No one wakes up one day to find they’ve suddenly developed either an immoral or a godly character.”

We wish each other “Happy New Year” without really thinking about what that means. According to Gallup’s 2024 “World Happiness Report,” young Americans are a lot less happy than older Americans. People under the age of 30 are so unhappy, in fact, they’ve dragged the United States out of the top 20 happiest countries in the world for the first time in the report’s history. Sadly, the more time young people spend online, the less happy they become.

Is there a way to be happy, or is there more to life than the pursuit of happiness? What if I told you the Bible gives a proven way to have a Happy New Year?

Please turn to Psalm 1: “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”

Here’s the main point of the Psalm: The pursuit of holy living is the pathway to a happy life. Happiness is a byproduct of holiness.

This Psalm tells us there are only two ways to live by challenging us to get rid of unholy habits, while putting some holy habits into practice. Those who follow the way of righteousness will flourish, while those who don’t will flounder. As I meditated on these verses, I thought of “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Humans falls into two separate groups: saints and sinners, saved and lost, godly and ungodly, believers and unbelievers, those who are blessed and those who are busted, Packer backers and bad news Bears fans.

I see five holy habits for us to cultivate according to Psalm 1.

1. Exit the wrong path. Listen to verse 1 again: “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers.” Unfortunately, the word “bless” has become a bit bland in our language and has turned into a Christian cliché. In Hebrew, it refers to a state of bliss or supreme happiness. It also carries with it the idea of congratulating someone for doing something positive. It’s in the plural, so it can be translated as, “the blessednesses,” which can mean a multiplication of “happinesses.” It may also refer to an intensity of God’s blessing and could be translated like this: “Oh! How very blessed; Oh! How very happy, many times over, is the man!”