Why Social & Neural Formation Matter—from Psalm 1

Where you put things make a big difference

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Where you put things make a big difference. 

• How do you keep from eating chips late at night? DON’T have them in the house. 

• How do you remember to bring your lunch? Put your keys in the fridge. 

• How do you eat less at meals? Have smaller plates. 

The same for our spiritual lives.

Where you place your body and place your mind changes everything.

Our social and neural formation is connected to our spiritual formation. 

This is how the entire book of Psalms starts. 

Psalm 1

1 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,

2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and who meditates on his law day and night.

3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
    which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
    whatever they do prospers.

Body Placement 

We all lack self-control when faced with a tempting option. We all conform to the people we are around. 

That is why Psalm 1 tells us not to 

• WALK with the wicked

• STAND with the sinners

• Or SIT with the mockers.

From walking, to standing, to sitting, the actions are progressively getting more and more entangled with things that are against a flourishing life. 

Sometimes we are told to resist evil (because it is in the Bible—James 4:7).

But self-control and will-power are fickle and fleeting. It is better to just get out of there. Don’t walk, stand, or sit with those engaging in destructive behaviors.

Take your body and place it somewhere else.

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Mind Placement

This is also true of our minds. Where we place our minds matters.

Don’t let your imagination run wild. Don’t focus on negative situations in your social life. Don’t ruminate on what is going wrong, on bitterness or resentment. Don’t have imagined conversations with or about others.

Instead, Psalm 1 tells us to “delight in the law of the Lord” and “meditate” on it day and night. We need to focus our minds on what matters, what is real, what leads to life.

To mediate on God’s law doesn’t mean to think about the 10 Commandments all day long, on the 10 “DO NOTS”. It is much bigger than that. To mediate on God’s law is to think of God’s plan for leading sinful humanity back to a place of life and love.

Meditating on God’s law is to focus on God’s plan for life and love.

Of course, to meditate on God’s law doesn’t mean ignoring legitimate hardships and disappointments with toxic positivity and spiritual bypassing. As the entire Psalter shows us, God meets us in all those places.

But when we meditate on God’s way of life—rather than ruminate about ours—we will grow like a flourishing tree that bears good fruit.

Which way are you on?

Our social pathways and neural pathways can lead us on the way of life, or the way of death. 

This is how Psalm 1 ends. 

6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,

    but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

Which social-neural pathway are you on?