Daily Devotion

 With Pastor Ancel Presnell

“GODLY DEMEANOR”

The Bible has much to say about how we act and carry ourselves as His children. Sometimes, we forget that our life and demeanor should be in great contrast to the lives and demeanor of the world. We should be the happiest people in the world! God has brought us from death to life, washed our sins away, and promised to be with us all the way into heaven! Of course, we face tough times and seasons; this reality is precisely the reason that we as Christians must keep a Godly demeanor. If we react to these difficult seasons the way unconverted people do, what does that say about our faith and the Savior that we claim to trust in? Ungodly demeanor puts both our faith and our Savior in a negative light.

The Psalmist lays out a stark contrast between the righteous believer and the unrighteous unbeliever in Psalm 1. His opening line of the song is: “Blessed is the man.” The word blessed to put it simply, means, happy. Happy is the man! Once we read that opening phrase, our attention should be on what follows as a believer in Christ. Humanity consumes so much time, money, and effort trying to reach happiness, and for believers, God’s word gives us the instruction manual.

The opening line of Psalm 1 is not absent from trials and tribulations, nor is the ability to keep this Godly demeanor contingent upon the absence of trials and tribulations. This is what is so wonderful about the Christians ability to have a Godly demeanor. However, it is contingent upon following the directives given to us in Psalm 1:1 that leads to our demonstration of Godly demeanor. It matters who we place ourselves around and whom we take advice from. If we find ourselves keeping company with unsaved people, then we will be influenced by the worldview of unsaved people. To have and keep a Godly demeanor, we must draw from the well of happiness, and that well is at the foot of the cross!

Psalm 1:1– “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.”