“Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.” — Psalm 1:1-2
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The pursuit of happiness seems to drive almost all human behavior. We all desire happiness. Aristotle, the ancient Greek philosopher, once argued that while we always desire happiness as an end in itself, we also desire other things as a means toward obtaining happiness. And so, according to Aristotle, happiness is our ultimate goal in life. So if happiness is what we want and the thing that seems to drive most of our behavior, then how do we go about pursuing and obtaining meaningful happiness in life?
Well, fortunately for us, the Bible offers us wisdom on how to obtain meaningful happiness, and most of our modern research on happiness supports and confirms the ancient wisdom that the Bible has to offer. Psalm 1 (which most scholars believe was written as an introduction to the entire Book of Psalms) is one of the Bible’s most simple and yet profound teachings on how to experience a blessed life full of meaningful happiness.
Psalm 1 presents us with two different ways to do life: We can either make a decision to listen to God and try to live like He has taught us, or we can choose not to. There is no third option. But if we want to experience a blessed life full of meaningful happiness, then the teaching is clear: We must avoid the way of the wicked and embrace the way of the righteous because as the psalmist warns us, whatever shapes your mind will shape your life.
— Terry Evans, Atlanta Braves chaplain
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