3 Kinds of People You Must Avoid

“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”

— Psalm 1:1

Psalm 1:1 opens the book of Psalm with a word of caution about three kinds of people that the righteous must avoid. These are real people we meet in our day to day life. We must be aware of them and how to deal with them.

The blessed man is the righteous who is the favoured of God because he fears the Lord. He does not associate with people who disobey the laws of God.

Below are the three kinds of people and how to live with them.
#1. The Ungodly
The blessed man of God does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly. He does not associate with the wicked who do not honour the name of God. Throughout the Psalm, they are those who are marked out for condemnation by God due to their continuous unrepentant heart.

There are many ungodly people in our everyday life. They cannot be wished away. Until Jesus comes, they will be there. Know that we live in a fallen world where we must not live according to the standard of the world. Yes, we do business with them, we preach to them, they drive us, they serve us, but we must not have fellowship with them. What has light got to do with darkness? It is important that we mark them out and know how to deal with them. The ungodly are the first people we must avoid.

Yes, we do business with them, we preach to them, they drive us, they serve us, but we must not have fellowship with them.

#2. The Sinner
The second group of people we must avoid or not have fellowship with is the sinner. These are people who break the laws of God. Israel broke the laws of God in the Old Testament when they were in the wilderness to the extent that none of them who came from Egypt entered the Promised Land. Sin is missing the mark or going against the laws of God. We are told not to stand with sinners.

Sinners abound in this world. God hates sin because it violate His nature of holiness and righteousness. In the Old and New Testaments, we see that God punished sin and Jesus spoke against sin. In Revelations, He spoke against the sins of the churches in Asia. Sin is not cool. Sin breaks our confidence to approach God. Thus, an association with sinners will make you sinful.

Sin breaks our confidence to approach God.

#3. The Scornful
The last group of people that the Psalmist talks about are the scornful. These are people who make fun of your faith and water it down. We are entreated not to sit in the seat of the scornful. They eventually want to make you feel that your faith is a mistake and that you should do away with it. Don’t give in.

The new atheists in town have a renewed commitment but an old strategy to make scorn of Christianity to dampen the spirit of the blessed man. They propound theories to make fun of Christianity. They make fun of the stories of the Bible as fairy tales. Everything they do is geared towards killing your love for the Lord. We must spot them and avoid them.

They eventually want to make you feel that your faith is a mistake and that you should do away with it. Don’t give in.

These three people who are identified in Psalm 1:1 are like yeast. When left unchecked, they will grow to take over your relationship with the Lord. We must know them and avoid them at all cost.

Which of these people have you encountered in your life? Share below.