The Slippery Slope of Sin

I have begun to read through and write “contemplatively” on the psalms.  It is one of my spiritual goals for this year.  So, occasionally, I will be peppering my blog with things that I see in the psalms.  I want to do that today with something that I see in Psalm 1.  Psalm 1 is a contrast between the righteous and the unrighteous.  I will probably talk about that contrast tomorrow.  But today I want to focus on the slippery slope that we see in verse 1.  Here it is:  “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful…”  What I want to talk about here is the slippery slope or the progression of sin’s involvement and impact in our lives.  The man described here first begins to walk in the counsel of the ungodly but then he progresses to standing in the path of sinners and then finally, he is sitting in the seat of the scornful.  If you would, he sort of digresses from being a passerby and hearing the counsel of the wicked to being entrenched in the seat of the scornful, perhaps even being in some type of “leadership” of the wicked crowd.

I really identify with this progression because I saw this progression in my own life.  After moving to Tennessee as a sophomore in high school my family stopped going to church and I pretty much stopped reading or hearing God’s word.   This continued through my last two and half years of high school and my four years of college.  Looking back on it, I can see how I kept going further down the slippery slope.  Three or four years into my absence from God’s word my language and my activity consisted of words and behavior that I never would have done or even considered earlier.  I had progressed from walking to sitting.  I was firmly entrenched in sin.  Now, I do remember always knowing that what I was doing was wrong.   I believe that the Holy Spirit was convicting me, but the longer I ignored His conviction, the easier it was for me to ignore the conviction.

The “cure” for me was being exposed again to God’s word.  As that happened, everything changed.  Language and behavior went away.  And the catalyst for that change was simply God’s word.  In verse 2 we read, “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night”.  I can’t say that I meditated on the word of God day and night but my consistent weekly and then almost daily exposure to the word of God and its transforming power definitely made the difference.

If you find yourself on the slippery slope of sin, take it from me, the way off the slope is the word of God and the people of God.  Get off the slope today.  If I can be of any help, please contact me.