Episode 431: I’m Talkin…Don’t

I’m Talkin, episode 431 for July 19th, 2026.

This is Joel from the I’m Talkin Microcast, where I share my thoughts on a topic that has piqued my interest this past week.

This week, we’re talking don’t.

Really, we’re talking do not, but in the interest of just saying one word on my podcast, I chose don’t.

It’s the same meaning, but you’ll see that in a little bit here.

So when we think of the word don’t, it often in our rebel culture wants us to do or prompts us to do the thing that we are told we cannot do.

We want to be our own person.

We want to be in charge.

We want to be the one who’s making the decision.

And when someone tells us, don’t do something or don’t do that, it often rubs us the wrong way because we want to be in charge.

And therein lies the challenge for those of us who call ourselves Christians.

Today’s word comes from Psalm 1, verses 1 through 3 that says, Oh, the joys for those who do not follow the advice of the wicked or stand around with sinners or join in with mockers.

They delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night.

They are like trees planted along the riverbank, growing fruit each season.

I think it says bearing fruit each season.

Their leaves never wither and they prosper in all they do.

Three times in the scripture, God says don’t do something.

It says, Oh, the joys for those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, who do not stand around with sinners, who do not join with mockers.

Those are things that God is telling us to stay away from.

And he says, instead, what do we do?

We meditate on God’s word and it is a delight for us.

And because of that, we are blessed.

And what does that blessing look like?

It says we’re like trees planted by a river, a riverbank.

And so we have no lack of nutrients, no lack of water, no lack of growth.

And then we get to bear fruit each season.

And what does that look like?

That means we witness.

That means we are attractive to people who don’t know who Jesus is.

It means we draw people to Jesus Christ.

And what do we get for that?

We get to be joyful.

It says, Oh, the joys.

That’s a multiple thing.

There are multiple ways we get to be living in the joy of who God is, of what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross.

We get to live as people of joy in front of a world that is lost and draw them closer to Jesus Christ.

Until next week, this is Joel from the I’m Talking Microcast.