Where we Walk

At church, at our Wednesday night Bible study, we're working through the book Psalms: Prayers of the Heart by Eugene Peterson.  

Look at the first verse of the first Psalm:

Happy are those

who do not follow the advice of the wicked,

or take the path that sinners tread,

or sit in the seat of scoffers;

He asks the question, "What significance do you see in the progression from walk to stand to sit?"

Truthfully, I had no immediate answer. I didn't see any significance. But think about it.  Walking is movement - you're not spending much time with someone you walk by. Standing with them takes a little more time. To sit down with someone - that is a commitment of time.

Is temptation like that? Do we start with a small step - something we can easily dismiss through rationalization? And then do we move on to something that is deeper? And then, do we end up sitting down with sin? I think our progression away from following Christ's commands is like that. We don't make that choice (often) as a dramatic one. It's a bit by bit movement - something that we don't even notice at first, and can easily excuse. But it leads to more.

May we be aware of where we walk because it can lead to where we sit.