How We Can Change Our Lives (Part 1) | Psalm 1 | Samuel Oyeyinka

How We Can Change Our Lives (Part 1) | Psalm 1 | Samuel OyeyinkaWe change our lives not by simply trying to avoid suffering, but by redirecting our deepest motivations toward God and His glory. In this fallen world, suffering is unavoidable because creation itself has been subjected to futility. It presses on us as a reminder that this world is not our final home (Romans 8:18-23).Suffering comes from three main places:• Nature – the brokenness of creation• People – persecution or harm from others• Ourselves – through self-denial and resisting sinful passionsEveryone is running toward something. Some run toward pleasure, comfort, and self-interest (Philippians 2:21; 2 Timothy 3). Others run toward God. These two dispositions have totally different outcomes. What you set your mind on is what you become enslaved to (Romans 8:5). The true way of change is to love God more than comfort. God answers suffering either by relief or by turning it into good, teaching us His purposes through it. But the heart is changed when the mind is fixed on what is good. That is why Scripture repeatedly commands meditation on God’s Word (Joshua 1:8; Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 26:3; Philippians 4:6-9).Psalm 1 gives the anchor: the blessed life is not defined by the absence of suffering, but by delight in the law of the Lord, meditating day and night, and being rooted like a tree by streams of water. The more you behold God’s Word, the more you appreciate Him. The more you appreciate Him, the more you love Him. And love for God expels lesser loves.