Meditations from Zion

Psalm 1:1
Blessed is the man [or woman]
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.

Lately, it has become popular to use the phrase, “way of Jesus,” but here is the “other” way… the way of a sinner. Contemporary Christians don’t like using this term much. It somehow feels too old-fashioned. After all, what is a sinner anyway?

Most people envision a criminal who has broken the law, someone worthy of punishment like jail or public humiliation. A sinner is that other guy or gal who is an evildoer, a villain, a reprobate. In fact, if you look up sinner in a thesaurus, most of the synonyms are similar in nature… baddest of the bad, worst of the worse and so on. And so our natural tendency is to say to ourselves, “I’m not THAT bad.”

But on the way to becoming the baddest of the bad are the little things we overlook.

This morning I have been quite convicted. Here’s a list of my sins between 6 and 9 am: anger, impatience, pride, indulgence, lying, exaggeration, cataloging of my children’s wrongs, disillusionment, unkindness, and procrastination [see I Corinthians 13]. Pretty amazing for only 3 hours into a day.

The point is that all of us have a tendency to take the way of a sinner. It’s the wide road, not the narrow road [see Matthew 7:13-14]. It’s the path of least resistance. To go the way of Jesus is to step out of that other way. (If we don’t literally step out, we’ll be pulled along by all the others… you see, it’s crowded on the wider path.)

I believe if I can just take one or two steps off this wider way… even if I can’t find the narrow path at first, the Lord will help me. If I can just stop and wait before I speak… for it’s my mouth that gets me in trouble first [Proverbs 11:12]. If I can just trust God enough and tolerate the “unknown zone,” a way will be illumined.

OK, here goes. I’m stepping out. Who wants to come with me? [Matthew 18:20]