What or who impacts your thinking and choices the most at this time in your life? Would you say it is your friends, your family, the media, your culture, your fears or health, what you read, past experiences, old habits, your hopes and aspirations, or your faith? Young children are generally most influenced by their parents, siblings and other significant adults. Teenagers begin to look to their peers, other people whom they greatly admire, and usually they begin to explore and to experiment with new options and ideas. With maturity, people make deliberate decisions, whether they realize it or not, concerning who and what is trustworthy and reliable.
Isn’t it interesting that the introduction to the most loved and perhaps well known book in the whole Bible, the Psalms, begins in Psalm 1 by clearly pointing out the difference between those who “delight” in God’s Word and those who find that the opinions of other people is more to their liking? According to this Psalm, there are only 2 categories of people – the wicked and the righteous and the difference between those 2 groups is that one knows who God is and seeks to follow His ways and the other one who does not. The results are dramatically different, aren’t they?
Does it make you curious to find out what other Psalms might have to say about God, about human nature and about the blessings that can be found when someone chooses to listen more closely to the Word of the Lord rather than to the opinions of man? It’s an adventure that could make a huge difference in your life!