Everything

. . . everything they do shall prosper.

 - From Psalm 1

So many promises from God. 

Everything they do shall prosper? Everything?

The Psalmist is talking about the righteous - about people that reject evil. But upon deeper reflection I want to conclude that I must not be righteous . . . because everything I do does not prosper. In fact, considering the idea that God's definition of "prosper" must be describing something abundant; it seems clear to me that nothing I do prospers. 

Maybe my definition of "prosper" is flawed. I mean, I feel successful and happy. I don't feel that the forces of evil can hurt me . . . not in the way that counts . . . not in eternity.

And I am absolutely convinced that the work that I have done, will prosper, even in this life. It might take some time to get there. I really want to see you, Lord, but it takes so long!

But in eternity . . . I fully expect a wealth of results from all of my investments in time and money, in this life. 

But I do not have much to show, that is, to people in this plane, in this life. When you look at me, there isn't much to justify someone else trying out the faith-life.

But Psalm is really more of a denunciation of the wicked. Verse 1 really lays out the case. There's a sort of development in becoming wicked. You have to take the three steps in reverse order, to get from Ordinary Joe, to Full-Blown Wicked Guy. It's a Progression of 21st Century Progressives:

Step One - You are sitting, watching. You're observing the scene passing you by, and are scornful. You make fun of others, particularly people of faith. You mock them. You ridicule. You prefer language that you know will disgust and offend them. Buy you enjoy pressing their hot buttons. If you can create a snare for them, you will be able to catch them "acting" not at all Christian, which will enable you to condemn the entire Christian system.

Step Two - You advance from scorn, to actually sinning. But first you linger with some formerly verboten ideas. What once made you uncomfortable, now turns you on. Rather than run away from sin, you have become well-acquainted with it. Purity, holiness, honor, loyalty . . . these are all outdated concepts that do not apply. They are vestiges of a past that was unjust and only served to keep tyrants in power. Such erstwhile virtues are not fun. They do not feed people or heal the sick. They only serve to make people puffed up and proud of their superiority over others. You are on the way to make good out of evil, and evil out of good. You have turned everything else upside down, so that God's people are now the bad guys. Sin has become the thing that good people do.

Step Three - You are now on a full walk away from God. You are in full stride. You are making Progress and you believe your direction is forward. But you keep going without looking back, because to look back is awkward . . . you are not interested in the crushed demeanor of the ones that love you most. And you find yourself now in the company of some powerful, or rich people, that can tell you that you are on the right side of history, you are actually a good person, and you do not need those people you always associated with. Are your new influencers wicked? You don't care.

But the apathy . . . you seem to have forgotten . . . is always a characteristic of wickedness. 

Good people care. 

They actually care. They don't talk about caring. They actually care.